


Never Stop Fighting

by corazon_desnudo



Series: Never Stop [2]
Category: Life Is Strange 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Car Accidents, Episode 5: Wolves (Life is Strange 2), Gen, Parting Ways Ending (Life is Strange 2), Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, Suicide Attempt, mention of sexual assault
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:29:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26217919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corazon_desnudo/pseuds/corazon_desnudo
Summary: As Independence Day nears, the Wolf Brothers are preparing to leave the USA for good.  But Sean's mind is troubled by increasingly strange dreams of his old life in Seattle.  And by a promise he made to his best friend Lyla before everything went to hell.Why can't Sean stop worrying about the past when it's never been more urgent to focus on the future?
Relationships: Daniel Diaz & Sean Diaz, Sean Diaz & Lyla Park, Sean/Finn (Mentioned)
Series: Never Stop [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1904053
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	1. The Pact

**Author's Note:**

> This story mostly takes part during and after Episode 5, and sticks closely to canon. It is the sequel to _Never Stop Shining_ , and is part 2 of the _Never Stop Series_. Although it can be read as a standalone story, I recommend reading Never Stop Shining first to fully appreciate this one.
> 
> This story evolved out of my need to know how Sean and Daniel dealt with the events that occur throughout the game, and ultimately find happiness and fulfillment in their lives. I am deeply indebted to my beta readers for improving this story: darkjaden825698, souvenirsfromapastlife and Khoris!
> 
> **The sequel- _Never Stop Being Brothers _, part 3 of the _Never Stop Series_ , is up but not yet finished.__**

**August 29** **th** **, 2016**  
**Seattle, Washington**  
  


_Hey, did you remember to put deodorant on before you ran out the door?_  
_:-P_  
_Seriously, enjoy your first day as an upperclassman. I’m so proud, mijo._

Sean sat at the bus stop, rubbing his tired eyes as he read Dad’s texts. It was barely 7 AM. Way too early for him to be in the mood to text, and he didn’t want to encourage Dad who loved to tease him over text almost as much as Lyla. 

So, instead, he switched to Facebook. Ellery had posted a picture of all them dressed like zombies at the skatepark. It was crazy how summer was over so fast. 

Dad’s car passed by. Daniel was making faces at him as Esteban ferried him off to EB Williams Elementary, but Sean just gave his brother the death glare. It was all Daniel’s fault he got woken up so early. 

The bus wouldn’t even get to his block for another ten minutes. And though the sun was up because it was technically summer, Sean himself was still half-asleep. He’d been woken up an hour ago by Daniel running into his room, shouting about how Dad was making breakfast burritos and asking him a million questions about how being a junior was different from a sophomore. 

Where did the kid get all his energy?

Sean yawned and swiped over more of his friends’ posts. The predominant theme was mourning the end of summer and school starting again so soon. Sean didn’t exactly relate to that, though. School was _okay_ , besides the early mornings. At least, being there gave him a break from Daniel.

“Oh my god, it’s a miracle! You’re actually out here before me?”

Sean rolled his eyes at Lyla, who strolled towards him with a bounce in her step and a new backpack with little fish on the straps. Or were they supposed to be bullets? Lyla was badass enough for that.

“Did someone steal the real Sean and replace him with this responsible version?” Lyla sat down beside him, ignoring his rolling eyes.

“It’s not that crazy. I’ve been out here plenty of times without you.”

“Only those two days last semester when I called out sick.” Lyla said. “Because usually I am the one texting you to get your butt out the door, sleepy head.”

Sean huffed, pretending to be offended. “It’s good to see you too.”

“Aww,” Lyla pulled him into a too forceful hug, so his beanie got squished against the strap of her pack. “Poor baby. Couldn’t sleep? Is that why you’re cranky?”

“Kinda.” Sean extracted himself from Lyla’s grip and shook his head. “Daniel woke me up way too early. He acts like the first day of school is the same as going to AquaWorld. Like, he’s actually excited about it.” 

“Well, I kinda am too. No, like seriously. Ms. Swanson is supposed to be a really good science teacher. It’s hard to get into her chemistry class. And she actually lets you blow things up.”

“Mad scientist Lyla, here we come.” 

“Sean!” Lyla said. “Not all girls are crazy. Some of us would make great chemists.” 

“I know, I know.” Sean said. “I just wish I liked academics as much as you. It all just seems so dry and abstract. Like, what’s the point of half the stuff they teach us? As if we were gonna use it.” 

Lyla didn’t respond right away. Her eyes drifted to his neighbor’s yard a few houses down from the bus stop. Brett was polishing the brand new car he’d gotten on his sixteenth birthday.

“What we are going to use is the _diploma_. Graduating high school is the first real step to getting into a good college and not having to live with our parents, or around jerk faces like your asshole neighbor. We can finally get something for ourselves out of this fucked up world.” 

“Good point.” Sean shoved his phone in his hoodie pocket, and stretched his hands out towards the sun. It was just coming over the neighbor’s roof, painting the houses and lawns red and gold. “Look Lyla, everything the light touches will be your kingdom. All you need is one, small high school diploma.”

“Not everything I say is a lead-in for a movie quote.” Lyla laughed, but her tone quickly turned serious. “My mom is already pressuring me to look at colleges, and if I don’t get into UW, she’ll freak. Not that I‘m _not_ aiming high, but it’s still a lot of pressure.”

“But you get straight A’s. You’ll get into whatever school you want.”

“Not if I flunk my SATs.” Lyla poked him. “Have you looked at any of the sample tests? The analogies are really confusing and I missed almost half.”

Sean shrugged, not responding. 

“Come on. I need you to be my study buddy. You’re good at English, and you know none of the other guys will want to.”

“I am not even sure _I_ want to go to college.” Sean’s phone buzzed in his pocket. Sean pulled it out and saw Dad had taken a picture of Daniel in front of the elementary school sign. His little bro looked so excited holding up four fingers for fourth grade. Sean wished he could get stoked about something dumb like starting a new grade.

“No way.” Lyla grabbed his hand. “You’re going if I have to drag you there. You aren’t that stupid to actually believe you can get by without a college degree. Not in the bullshit way our materialistic society works. You told me you would take the PSAT with me in October. So what’s changed now?”

“Nothing.” Sean tried to free his hand but Lyla wouldn’t let him go. She was fucking tenacious when she wanted to be. “It’s just that going to college feels like this expectation all our parents have because they want us to become adults or whatever. But it’s just so forced, you know? Like we are being all steered down the same lane like cattle for slaughter. Go to college. Get a fancy job. Buy a big house and spend the rest of your life paying for all this _shit_ you don’t really want.” 

“Yeah, man.” Lyla shook her head. “You think I don’t hear that? My mom gives me the same speech except she throws babies on top like it’s just a given I want kids.” 

“I thought that’s what all women want.” Lyla shot him a look of pure horror, which just encouraged Sean more. “A tall, hunky husband and a bunch of little babies to look after? That’s like heaven, right?” 

“Shut up. You sure you’re not the one dreaming of a hunk, Mr. Hasn’t-Dated-Since-Freshman-Year?” Sean started to protest, but Lyla bulldozed over him in her classic indignant speech mode _. “_ But, I have no time for that domestic bullshit. I want to get my own place and make my own money. It might be a joke to you, but your dad isn’t trying to trap you in some conventional life like my mom is doing.”

Sean thought about that for a second. She had a point—Dad wasn’t nagging like Lyla’s mom. But…

“He still wants all that conventional American dream crap for me—minus the hunk part obviously.” Sean forced himself to laugh. Why did Lyla’s joke make him feel so awkward? “Like, Dad keeps mentioning all these different things he thinks I would be into and make a career out of. He thinks he’s being subtle ‘cause he tries to just slip it into our conversations when we’re gaming or something, But every time, it makes me feel super awkward. Like I have all this pressure to succeed because he made it here and bought a house and got his shop up and running. I’m supposed to take it to the next level and I don’t know if I can.”

“Oh, Sean. You know your Dad would never be disappointed in you. Unless you became a full time stoner and never left the house because you are too busy warging with Adam.”

“Quit it,” Sean whispered sharply. “Don’t talk so loud. He doesn’t know I smoke and he could be back from dropping off Daniel any minute.”

“I’m just saying, I know Esteban pretty well by now, and I get the feeling he would be completely happy as long as you find something you love doing beyond working at Z-Mart. That’s why he pays me when you have track so you don’t have to be a full time babysitter for Daniel. He knows you need space to find your passion. He’s not trying to hold you back.”

“I don’t know,” Sean said. “He gave me a pretty big lecture when I got that D in statistics. Like I‘m supposed to be a math wizard.” 

Lyla sighed and adjusted the laces on her boots. Sean looked back at his cell and added a simple ‘like’ to the picture of Daniel. Esteban immediately responded.

 _You didn’t fall asleep on the bus! Wow I’m impressed_ 😂

“Well, he doesn’t want you to flunk out,” Lyla finally said. “And I am sure he wants you to go to college. But for the right reasons, not like with my mom. And I want you to go too. For selfish reasons.”

“Selfish reasons?” 

“Yeah.” Lyla frowned. “It scares me that we’re already juniors. High school’s gonna fly by and then we’ll be off at different colleges and start dating people, and soon we won’t even call each other. We’ll be like those people who like each other’s posts on Facebook but never talk in real life.”

That was a heavy thought for this early in the morning. Sean wondered where all this was coming from. But, he had an idea.

“I have the perfect solution.” Sean squeezed her arm, and Lyla narrowed her eyes like he was about to prank her. “We make a pact to apply to the same schools and then we only go to one of the ones we both get accepted to. That way we have like, at least six more years where I can leech off your homework answers.”

Lyla rolled her eyes, but her face brightened. 

“I am totally down with that. You have to put in effort though. As in starting _this_ semester because that only works if you get into _a_ college.”

“Of course I will. I was out here bright and early today. That’s a good start right?”

“Oh Sean, you are the best.” Lyla ignored his lame joke. “We’re gonna have so much fun together. We can get in a coed dorm, and stay up watching horror movies and do all nighters like—hey stop!”

The schoolbus rolled past them, not even slowing as it headed towards a stop sign at the far end of their block. With surprising speed, Lyla turned on the flashlight on her phone and jumped up, waving until her light hit the side mirror on the bus. 

“Jesus! I hate our driver.” 

Lyla kept the light honed in on the mirror until it finally turned on its blinker and pulled over to the curb. Sean scrambled to his feet, but tripped on his poorly tied laces. Lyla was already jogging to the bus. Sean could hear her cursing out the driver under her breath.

“Wait! Hold up!” Sean yelled.

Lyla was stifling a laugh as she hurried back. She helped him up and grabbed his sneaker, which had flung several feet in front of him. The bus honked twice, loud and long. 

“Silly Sean.” Lyla kept poking him with the shoe as they jogged together to the bus. “Lyla the mad scientist won’t ever leave you behind. I need you for my experiments.”

“Yeah, I guess I should’ve figured that.” Sean laughed. Lyla wasn’t going to let him go that easily. Especially now that they were both college bound.

Lyla pulled them up right past the bleary eyed bus driver and into the second seat from the back where they always sat. 

“About this college thing, I have one condition.” Sean lowered his voice although no one was listening. “Let me see your take home exams from Mr. Cortez’ algebra class you took in the spring. You know there is no way I‘m passing on my own. I need to know what I am up against.”

Lyla rolled her eyes and turned her face back towards the window. But Sean knew she’d come through for him. Best friends were always there for each other.

  
  



	2. Wolves in the Canyon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story mostly takes part during and after Episode 5, and sticks closely to canon. It is the sequel to _Never Stop Shining_ , and is part 2 of the _Never Stop Series_. Although it can be read as a standalone story, I recommend reading Never Stop Shining first to fully appreciate this one.
> 
> This story evolved out of my need to know how Sean and Daniel dealt with the events that occur throughout the game, and ultimately find happiness and fulfillment in their lives. I am deeply indebted to my beta readers for improving this story: darkjaden825698, souvenirsfromapastlife and Khoris!

**July 1st** **, 2017**  
**Grand Canyon National Park**

  
  


It was so fucking hot, but they didn’t have that much further to go.

Sean flattened out the wrinkles on the Grand Canyon National Park map, studying the blue line Karen had traced to the camping spot. He estimated they’d hiked more than two-thirds of the way, with just a zig zaggy, steep ascent up to the rim left. She had promised them the view at top would be unforgettable. 

Unlike her two kids. 

Karen forgot about him and Daniel for eight whole years. Just left the two of them behind for....whatever it was she claimed to need. Freedom? Or was it just an excuse to avoid her responsibilities? 

And though he was grateful for her help now, sometimes the nice things she did—like helping him plan this trip—just made him more bitter about all those years she was missing in action.

“Sean?” 

“What’s up, Daniel?” Sean looked up at his little brother. Daniel sat on a nearby rock, munching on cookies Arthur had baked. 

“Why didn’t anyone else want to go if it's so pretty up there?” Daniel said. “I asked Joan and Mom and Stan and Art.” 

“Oh.” Sean tucked the map back in his pack. “Karen and Joan have already been up there. Don’t you remember Karen telling us that? And well, Stan and Art are getting kind of old for walking around the desert.” 

“Does everyone get boring when they get old?” 

“Not everyone, but it’s more common. All the aches and pains they have, I guess.” Sean shrugged. 

Daniel lifted the plastic bag of cookies in the air. It drifted towards Sean, but stayed just above his head, and out of arm’s reach. Sean stood to grab it, and Daniel raised it higher.

“Cut it out!” Sean said. 

“Fine. I was just having fun.” 

“It’s not cool to use your powers just for your entertainment, dude.” Sean glared at him until Daniel moved the cookie bag nicely down next to him. He forced himself to only eat one and then he packed it away. He wanted to save the rest for tonight.

“Sorry.” Daniel made a sour face. “Joan loves when I use my powers. She doesn’t get cranky like you. And she’s a lot older than you. She says I can use my powers for good and build stuff. Maybe I can learn to be an artist, like you one day.”

“Yeah. She’s right.” Sean smiled, reminding himself not to be short with Daniel. “You two are a total up-cycle team. Making beauty out of garbage. Come on, let’s hit the road before these cookies melt.”

After another quarter mile across the sand, they finally reached the ridge in the shade. They rested against the cool, shaded ridge before starting their ascent. Sean hoped that Puerto Lobos, being by the water, would at least have a nice ocean breeze. 

He missed that about Seattle. Even though it wasn’t technically on the ocean, the breeze coming off the Puget Sound kept the summer heat from getting unbearable. And he missed the fact that it actually had weather, like clouds and rain that was nowhere to be found in Arizona. 

The desert was almost always either baking hot or cold and cloudless at night. No variation. 

Not like in Seattle where him and Lyla could just sit out on front steps, watching the endless cloud formations and coming up with weird guesses for what everything was. Lyla always joked that the clouds looked like fucked up penises. Or penii? He’d never heard  _ that _ word used in the plural.

“Hey watch out!” Sean grabbed Daniel, who was skittering too close to the edge of a switchback on the trail.

“I wasn’t going to fall.” Daniel’s eyes were fixed on a large bird of prey. The bird’s talons were digging into a snake down in the gorge below. “I was just looking.” 

“I know. I just—” The scene of the bird ripping out the insides of the snake stopped him from finishing that thought. “Gross! Let’s leave that thing alone so we can still eat dinner.”

“That’s probably what that cougar did to Mushroom, when you let it drag her off.” Daniel kicked a stone at the bird, which landed close enough for it to be startled and flap its wings. Daniel lifted the rock up in the air until it was level with the raptor’s head.

“No, Daniel.” Sean grabbed his hand. “Don’t. The snake is already dead.” 

Daniel shot him an angry look, but slowly, finally dropped the stone.

“I’m sorry about Mushroom, dude. I really am. I know how much you loved that pup.” Sean wrapped his arm around his brother’s slim shoulder, pulling him in and away from the edge. “But, hurting something else because you are hurt doesn’t solve anything. It was too late to do anything about Mushroom.”

“But,” Daniel’s little face tightened. “If she had still been alive, then it would have been okay to use my powers on the cougar?”

Sean paused, trying to work it out in his head. For the thousandth time, he wished Dad was here to answer these types of questions. Who was he—a sixteen year old fuck up, to know how to raise a ten year old properly?

“Yeah, I mean only if Mushroom still had a chance. In that case, it probably would have been okay. Only if it kept her from being killed, though.”

“Like when I pushed Nicolas away so he wouldn’t kill you.” 

Sean nodded and directed Daniel back along the trail. He didn’t like to think about that. But, the memory flashed in his mind of how Daniel pushed Sean away  _ twice _ before finally using his powers on the real bad guy. Luckily, Sean hadn’t been hurt either time. 

Well, at least not physically.

But he didn’t need to remind Daniel of that. Daniel had only done that because he was afraid Sean was lying to him about him needing to be saved. That was different. He would never have hurt Sean no matter how scared he was. 

At least…not on purpose. And he had gotten a lot more control over his powers lately.

They walked together in silence up the steep canyon, which was challenging enough to prevent Sean from doing much but sucking in hot air until they reached the point where the trail ended. It was a flat, open plateau, with a wide view.

Karen was right. It was amazing. Sean could see a huge section of the canyon with red and rust colored walls towering over a giant rift. A tiny river flowed down below, barely visible in the shadows. 

“Whoa,” Daniel’s eyes went big. “This is even better than how Mom described it. You can see forever.”

“Not quite, but she was right. It was worth the hike.”

Daniel’s excitement was contagious, making Sean feel light despite his super sore legs and sweaty skin. It had been too long since he’d done track. He had to get back in shape if he was going to keep up with Daniel long term.

Both of them starved, Sean broke out the Joan’s spaghetti, and the soda he’d kept cold in Karen’s cooler bags. Neither of them said much as they sat on their rolled out sleeping bags and ate. Daniel laid back on his bag after he finished, curling up slightly towards Sean and burping up his soda he’d drank way too quick.

“I bet Dad would have wanted to come.” Daniel’s voice was quiet. “Even if he was kinda old.” 

“Yeah, definitely. Dad would have loved it up here. You remember how much he liked to go camping, don’t you?”

Daniel nodded. Sean could tell he was tired, fighting sleep since he’d been awake at the crack of dawn, which this time of year was hours before Sean got up. 

“I wish I could see him again. Grandma said I have to wait until I go to heaven, but that’s so far away.” 

“Yeah, I wish I could see him right now too.” Sean regretted that he couldn’t think of better words to comfort his little brother. There was so much he regretted—but he was trying not to think like that anymore.

“And Lyla and Chris and Sarah Lee. Even Grandma and Grandpa. Sometimes, I feel like we’ll never see them again.” Daniel played with the zipper on the sleeping bag, frowning at the ground. 

“I hope we can, Daniel. One day.” Sean stopped himself before he made a promise he couldn’t keep. He was committed to being honest with Daniel now no matter much it hurt. He owned his little brother that much. “You saw the letter from Grandma and from Chris, and the one from Sarah. They’re still thinking about us. They’re still our family. We just have to be...apart for a little while.”

And it was true. 

Sean was hopeful that maybe his Grandparents and Karen could visit, for Daniel’s sake. He didn’t think it would be impossible, but he knew it would be a while. First, he had so much he’d have to do in Puerto Lobos. 

Daniel lay back, looking out at the sky and Sean got the familiar itch to draw. It was really beautiful out here. 

He pulled out his sketchbook and started to outline the shapes of the deep canyon, and the way the sunset was creating shadows in the grooves of the vast rocks. The thought struck him half way through that the huge chasm the Colorado River created was kinda like the wall separating them from Mexico. The other side was so close, but so impossible to cross without danger.

And with each passing day, Sean knew they couldn’t put it off much longer. They were going to have to go back out on their own yet again. No mom for Daniel. Sean would be completely responsible again. It was daunting if he thought about it too much. But, he had learned from his mistakes. Hopefully.

“How can they really be our family if we never see each other?”

Sean looked over at Daniel with a start. He had thought Daniel had fallen asleep. 

“That’s why I drew that painting of Chris.” Daniel continued. “I miss hanging out with him so much. Joan and Mom are fun, but—” Daniel’s voice trailed off.

“I know,  _ enano _ . When we get to Puerto Lobos, they’ll be kids your age there. It’s a real town with families and stuff.” And maybe people Sean’s age too—he hoped.

“I don’t want new friends,” Daniel said louder. “I want to see Sarah and Chris. I mean, don’t you miss Lyla? She was like your bestest friend in the whole world?”

Sean looked at the sky, feeling almost paranoid that his little brother knew Lyla had been on his mind so much recently. He had kept having dreams about her, all too realistic ones, like the ones he’d had about Finn.

“I do, a lot,” Sean said.

“Then why didn’t you take her up on her offer?” 

“Wait—what are you talking about?” Sean looked back at Daniel.

“Ummm.” Daniel looked guilty. “That you could stay with her mom and they would help you not get in trouble with the police. Sorry, I overheard you telling Mom that one night you two thought I was asleep. Her place is really small.”

Sean had forgotten he mentioned that to Karen when he finally decided to tell her the full story about what happened in Seattle. He figured the cat was out of the bag when she’d seen his powers on full display. And… she kinda had a right to know since her and Esteban had been married and in love—at least at the beginning of their relationship.

Karen had asked about why he didn’t go to Esteban’s friends, or his own for help. And Sean had let it slip he’d turned down Lyla’s offer. No, offer was not the right word—more like a desperate plea that they come stay with her and her mom and let them help Sean sort out the mess. 

Just thinking about those texts made him miss getting messages from her. Even the stupid teasing ones about him and Jenn or how much of a lightweight he was.

“That’s true. Lyla offered to let us stay with them.” Sean finally said. “Lyla would have done anything for us. You know how much she loved you.” 

“Then why didn’t we go back there when you got that text from her?” Daniel looked like he was working a puzzle in his mind that only Sean held the pieces to. 

“Because, Daniel,” Sean sighed. “If we had stayed with Lyla she would have gotten in trouble. The police were after us and they could have thought Lyla was hiding us.”

“But, maybe she would have wanted to come with us? You didn’t give her a chance to decide.”

Sean laughed until he saw Daniel was serious. How could he explain to a ten year old that Lyla couldn’t just leave her family and school and go on the run with them—even if she was his best friend?

“It was too dangerous. I had to go and take you  _ right then _ , or the cops would have put us in jail. And if I had involved Lyla and begged her to go, and if she had come with us, then she would be in trouble with the cops, too. She might have gotten hurt, like we both did. It was safer for her to just leave before she could volunteer to get in trouble.

“So,” Daniel looked at him. “It’s the same as Mushroom. It would have been better if we hadn’t brought her.” 

Sean actually couldn’t argue with that. As much as he wanted to deny it, the puppy would have probably been better off being bought by some suburban vacationers stopping by on their way than taken on the run by him and Daniel. 

“You didn’t know what would happen. That was my fault for not telling you the truth about the journey we were on.” He pulled Daniel into a hug right as a shooting star flashed across the darkening sky. “You see that?” 

“Yeah, hey, where’s the telescope? You’re supposed to teach me all the constellations.”

“Okay, but maybe not  _ all _ .” Sean ruffled his hair, happy to change the subject. “Let me get it out.” 

They spent a long time looking at the stars through the telescope. They consulted Karen’s star book, with Daniel’s help when his eye got tired of reading. Daniel learned how to spot Ursa Major, and Venus, and something called a centaur that Daniel named ‘man-horse.’ 

Before they drifted off to sleep, when they were both laid back on their sleeping bags, Daniel turned to him.

“Dude, it's so crazy how many stars there are up there. They look like giant spider webs.”

“Yeah,” Sean yawned. 

Daniel’s words reminded him of the night in Joshua Tree National Park where he’d looked at the stars with Finn. Finn had gotten him visas so him and Daniel could cross the border at a checkpoint using someone else’s identity. 

And that same day, he’d lost his virginity to Finn. And it had felt like they had finally become united in a way that time and space would never be able to separate. Like their bond was unbreakable. He could still feel Finn’s hand on his heart.  _ We’re always together here. _

Sean smiled as he looked at the shining stars. “Maybe... they are.”

“Huh?” Daniel looked confused. 

“Well, the stars aren’t a literal spiderweb. But, maybe they’re like a cosmic reminder that we’re all connected even when we can’t see each other.”

“Or when...” Daniel looked away, and Sean could tell he was embarrassed about something.

“What, Daniel? It's okay.”

“Maybe Dad's up there looking down on us, and we are still connected to him that way.” 

“That’s a cool idea.” Sean didn’t believe in an afterlife. But he hadn’t believed in superpowers a year ago. Who was he to say Dad’s soul wasn’t alive somewhere? “If he is watching us, he’s probably so relieved you don’t have that dorky bowl cut anymore.”

“Shut up!” Daniel pushed him. “It looked better than that mohawk you had back at camp.”

“Hey! I liked that.”

“You just liked it cause  _ Finn _ cut it for you—”

Sean reached over and started tickling Daniel to shut him up. But Daniel was squirrelly and managed to get Sean’s bare feet, making Sean crack up. 

Finally, Sean managed to get some payback by pinning Daniel’s arm behind him and digging his fingers into his little brother’s armpits, which was his most ticklish spot.

“Get off me!” Daniel protested, and Sean was pushed back off his sleeping bag, his head knocking into the telescope, which toppled off its tripod.

Sean clutched his head, moaning.

“Oh, Sean, I’m sorry, are you ok—”

Sean jumped up and grabbed Daniel’s arm and started tickling him again.

“Not fair,” Daniel managed between laughs. “You tricked me!”

“Hey, I have to use whatever tricks up my sleeve when my brother’s a superwolf.” But Sean let him go.

Daniel crossed his arms, trying to look offended. Still, Sean could see his mouth twitching at the edges. 

“You might be superwolf,” Sean said. “but I am a sly wolf. He wins nine times out of ten!”

“Sly wolf? That’s not even a thing. You’re  _ so _ stupid sometimes.”

But Daniel burst into laughter, and soon, the only sound in the canyon was of two brother wolves, laughing at the sky.

  
  
  


~

  
  
  


**July 2nd, 2017**  
**Grand Canyon National Park**

“Hey wake up, Sean!” 

Sean’s eye popped open, momentarily disoriented to be looking at the faintly lit sky above him instead of the top of Karen’s camper. From how pale the sky looked, it must have been the very crack of dawn.

“Dude, come on!” Daniel said.

His brother's voice cut through the haze of his groggy mind. Oh, right. Camping. Fuck it was chilly in the mornings.

“What....what time is it?” Sean blinked at Daniel, feeling like it was too fucking cold to be up this early. Why did Daniel never want to sleep in? Was Sean that way when he was little. It was hard to remember.

“Get up! It’s so beautiful.” Daniel pointed towards the canyon. “Check it out!”

Sean forced himself out of his comfy sleeping bag and joined Daniel near the canyon’s edge. The sky was a kaleidoscope of purples and reds and oranges, and the canyon walls were just as striking in the dawn sky. It was the best sunrise he’d ever seen.

“So?” Daniel looked up at him.

“Yeah, okay, good call.” The mornings in Away were pretty, but this was so much more. “Wow... that’s amazing.”

“I know.” Daniel grinned.

Sean’s socket started to twitch, the way it did when Karen’s windows in the camper were left open all night and the wind dried it out. But, Sean was just happy he didn’t need it to appreciate all the beauty that was the Grand Canyon at daybreak. Everything was far enough away he didn’t need close up depth perception to enjoy it.

Still, he lifted his fingers to massage the skin around the socket to dull the itch.

“Is your eye okay?” Daniel’s smile evaporated.

“Yeah.”  _ As good as it would ever be _ . “It just itches. It’s okay,  _ enano _ .”

A shadow fell over Daniel’s face and Sean could tell what he was thinking. “I....”

“Promise.” Sean said, leaving the rest unspoken.  _ That you’ll forgive yourself. _

“Yeah, uh, okay.” Daniel managed. 

Sean pulled him into a hug, proud that Daniel was making progress and trying his best not to be so hard on himself. Sean knew too well just how difficult that was. 

Though they were just taking baby steps. Daniel was getting better now. With all the crazy shit the universe had thrown at him, Sean knew it was going to take time. They just had one last obstacle—getting to Mexico, and then they would both be safe and free. 

Sean reminded Daniel that he loved him for the hundredth time since getting him back. 

Daniel was probably tired of hearing it, but Daniel said the words back to him anyway. Sean couldn’t help repeating himself. Daniel was Sean’s only family and had to know how much he mattered to him. 

The two wolves turned and howled at the rising sun, greeting the new day together. And no matter whatever the day brought, nothing could defeat the united power of the wolf brothers. 

All they had to do was keep moving forward.


	3. A New Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This story mostly takes part during and after Episode 5, and sticks closely to canon. It is the sequel to _Never Stop Shining_ , and is part 2 of the _Never Stop Series_. Although it can be read as a standalone story, I recommend reading Never Stop Shining first to fully appreciate this one.
> 
> This story evolved out of my need to know how Sean and Daniel dealt with the events that occur throughout the game, and ultimately find happiness and fulfillment in their lives. I am deeply indebted to my beta readers for improving this story: darkjaden825698, souvenirsfromapastlife and Khoris!

Sean stormed into the living room. He was at his wits end with Daniel.

"Dude, turn it down. I’m trying to talk!” 

Daniel kept playing Minecraft so Sean had to walk over and adjust the volume on the TV himself. Why didn’t Daniel ever listen?

Sean lifted the headphones off Daniel’s right ear. “Keep it down!” 

“Stop it!” Daniel paused his heated conversation with Noah to jerk free. “I already turned it down before.”

“Then how come I can still hear it from my room? Keep it down! I mean it, Daniel.”

Sean went back to his room and slammed the door. He sank back down at his desk where he was video streaming with Jenn. 

“Sorry about that.” 

Jenn looked up from her phone, flashing Sean her ‘no worries’ smile.

“I heard you yelling.” Jenn said. “I hope you didn’t kill him or anything. We don’t want you to end up in jail.” 

“Nah, fratricide is not on my to-do list today. Though if there is an accidental explosion with the fireworks—“

“Sean! Cut it out, babe. He’s family.” 

Jenn frowned, brushing back her blue and red hair. Sean was impressed that those two colors worked so well on her. She was amazing with pretty much any style-except when she had dyed it all black for the goth party Adam had hosted and it turned out dirty grey instead. 

“Yeah, I know.” Sean glanced at the time. “It’s Sunday—game day. So, Dad will be back with pizza and soda and like a mountain of chock-o-crisps soon. Then, it’ll be Diaz bonding time all the way until Daniel passes out, don’t worry.”

Jenn laughed, in the cute, subdued way that told Sean her mind was on something else.

“So....did you talk to your Dad about going to the lake on Tuesday? I’m bringing  _ presents _ .” Jenn winked, and Sean could feel himself turning beet red. 

The last time she’d gotten edibles, they’d spent the whole day in Jenn’s bed, doing nothing but listening to music and fooling around. Jenn was like a sex goddess. Sean couldn’t get enough.

“I really want to...” Sean trailed off.

“You still haven’t talked to your Dad?” Jenn looked dejected. 

“No, but I am going to when he gets off work. First thing.” Sean felt guilty, but he wasn’t sure if it was more about letting his girlfriend or dad down. “You know how much he’s into these family traditions. They’re a huge deal to him. But, I promise—“

Several loud knocks interrupted Sean’s train of thought. 

“Sean, someone’s at the door!” Daniel called.

“Urggh.” Sean knew that it wasn’t safe for Daniel to answer it for strangers, but part of him was super irritated at being interrupted yet again. “I gotta go. I’ll call you after I talk to him.”

“You better.” Jenn gave him an air kiss and disconnected, just as two more loud knocks filled the air. 

“Hold up! Jesus, I’m coming.” Sean marched back into the living room, swinging open the door without even checking the peephole first. If this was his asshole neighbor again—

“Lyla?” Sean said. Lyla stood there, her arms crossed and staring at him like he  _ was _ a murderer. “What’s the matter?”

“Can we talk outside?” Lyla flashed Daniel a brief smile, before pulling Sean out onto the porch.

She took her time lighting a smoke before she answered him, leaving Sean to hover awkwardly around the railing.

“When were you going to tell me?”

“Tell you what?” Sean felt genuinely confused now.

“Come on Sean! Jenn confessed. Instead of submitting your portfolio like you said you were going to, you spent the entire day sitting next to Jenn on the couch, glued to the playbox just like Daniel.” Lyla growled, taking a long drag. “You’re such a fucking liar.”

“Umm, sorry.” Oddly, Sean was having trouble remembering what exactly happened. “I guess it just slipped my mind. I’ll work on it tonight.”

“You can’t.” Lyla said. “The deadline was July first! And I call total bullshit on you forgetting that, Sean Eduardo Diaz. I helped you get the application together and your account setup online. All you had to do was attach the final piece you were working on. That was a 10,000 dollar scholarship you could have used for UW.”

“Oh, well actually,” Sean’s hands dug into his hoodie. “Jenn and I were talking about maybe just doing the first couple years at a community college.” Sean vaguely recalled Jenn saying that. But something didn’t feel quite right. “She told me it makes more sense for people like us.”

Lyla shook her head, stubbing the cigarette on the ground and carefully placing it in a small plastic zip bag. She was so conscientious. She didn’t litter like other smokers. 

“I am not jealous of you two.” Her voice went quiet. “If that’s what you think this is about. But we agreed to apply to the same schools together and suddenly you changed your mind and didn’t even bother telling me. I know we still have all of senior year ahead of us and—I don’t want to sound like my mom. God, never like her. But I feel like you would get further with your art if you weren’t living at home with all of the distractions.”

Lyla pushed her hair back, her expression softening just enough that Sean felt comfortable taking a seat next to her. She rested her head on his shoulder, watching cars roll by.

“So, you aren’t even going to apply now?” 

Her words made something click in Sean’s mind. He started to feel very, very disoriented.

“What? I can’t. I’m not actually in school anymore. I can’t go to college.” 

Lyla half-laughed, her next words rising up an octave.

“Sean, why are you being silly? Of course—” 

“No, Lyla, I’m on the run from the cops! I can’t—“

  
  
  


~

  
  


**July 3rd, 2017**  
**An unincorporated community in Arizona**

  
Sean’s eye snapped open, and it took him several seconds to realize he was back in Karen’s camper instead of at home in Washington. 

Everything was dark. It definitely wasn’t morning yet.

Why the hell did he keep having these crazy dreams where he felt like he was back in Seattle and Dad had never died? They seemed so real. But then something would remind him that it was a lie and he’d wake up, covered in sweat.

This bullshit was the last thing he needed right now. He had to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be stressful enough. 

Yesterday had started off so well.

Waking up in the canyon to that beautiful sunrise reminded Sean of all the camping trips Dad had taken them on. Daniel had been in such high spirits on their walk back to Away, rambling on about how they could become nomads and live in dunes and ambush bandits. Daniel had even made a treasure hunt for him and Sean could tell he must have worked on it for days.

Then Karen had dropped the bombshell that the cops had picked up their trail. 

They’d find them if Daniel and him didn’t get out of Away ASAP. After Karen had told them that, it had taken Sean forever to fall asleep, and now he was wide awake again. Sean turned over, stuffing the pillow over his head and trying to will himself back to sleep. But it was pointless. He couldn’t get Lyla’s voice out of his head. It was like he’d had a real conversation with her. 

And she had sounded so upset with him.

He got out of bed and carefully maneuvered around Karen sleeping on the couch. He’d been at her place long enough now to mostly get by without much light, even with his one eye. He wondered if he went completely blind, if this was kinda what it would be like. 

He pushed that thought away as he walked past Karen’s garden and over to Joan’s, sitting down in the swing chair by the little patio she had where Sean could look out at her giant art. It was amazing to think about how much work she had put into creating all those sculptures from other people’s trash. This was such a strange, cool place. He hated they had to be back on the run again so suddenly. No time for a proper party for Daniel. No  _ despedida _ with cake and music like Esteban had done for Sean and his friends when he’d changed schools at six.

Just another fucking rushed departure to avoid being caught.

But, the funny thing was he knew he wouldn’t really miss Away. Although it had been a perfect spot to hide out and rest—it wasn’t their home. There were no job prospects for him, no school for Daniel, and no young people their age. Daniel would miss Karen, which is maybe why he’d made that random offer for her to go with them to Mexico last night. Even though deep down, he knew she wouldn’t come.

Sean was just  _ so _ tired of running. And now he was starting to doubt if they would ever find a home. What if Dad’s house in Puerto Lobos had been sold by his relatives, or was too run down to live in, and what if it was just a dead end, like Away? What if nothing could replace the home they had, no matter how long they searched. What if they didn’t belong anywhere?

Pulling his pack out, Sean lit a smoke. It was actually easier at night cause the whiteness of the wrapper stood out against the darkness of everything else. He took a long drag, trying to calm his thoughts. 

_ One thing at a time, dude. _

He had one goal—get across the border and away from the cops trying to hunt him and Daniel down. He could figure out the rest once he got to Puerto Lobos. 

“Sean?” Joan greeted him softly as she walked out from around her covered porch towards him. “You’re more of a night owl than I realized.” 

“Oh, sorry. Did I wake you?”

Sean had seen her light on but she always left it on so he figured she slept that way. He went to stub out his cigarette. Even though Karen smoked in front of her, he felt weird about it, since she was sick.

“No, and don’t stop smoking. I like the smell. Can I join you?” 

“Sure.” Sean nodded, feeling awkward she even asked since he was the one on her property. 

Joan sat down in a chair adjacent to him, a book wrapped in her arms. She reached over and turned on the little lights strung out around the patio, bathing the little area in soft yellow tones. “It takes me back to another time, like this book did.”

Joan held the book up so Sean could read the cover.  _ Saving the North Coast: How Hippies Won the War to Preserve California’s Coastline for  _ **_All the People_ **

“Your mom lent it to me. I was heading over to drop it off on her doorstep when I saw you.”

“Must have been pretty good to keep you up this late.” 

The book looked like one Karen would have. She was into organic gardening and nature and all that environmental stuff. He remembered how when he was little she came home one day with a bunch of little herbs in plastic pots, and they spent the afternoon moving them to their backyard and watering them. 

Most of the plants died pretty quickly after she left though. Just another thing she abandoned.

“No, I finished it much earlier today.” Joan ran her hand over the picture of wildflowers on a coastal hill that graced the book cover. “But, well, in a way I suppose so. The book made me think about an old friend I miss.” 

“Huh, that’s kind of why I can’t sleep either. I’ve been worried about a friend.” Sean was surprised to hear himself say that, but the moment he did, he knew it was true.

Joan looked up at him, a wry smile enhancing the soft lines on her face. 

“Karen told me you have a special guy.” 

“It’s not Finn.”  _ Not this time _ . “It’s my best friend from Seattle. Her name’s Lyla. She and I used to do everything together. I haven’t seen her since I left home. I miss her so much. And recently I can’t stop having these dreams about her.” 

“That sounds pretty normal.” Joan said. “When you love someone your heart doesn’t forget. It wants to hold on to those memories of them as tightly as it can.” 

"Yeah, I mean I’ll never forget her. And as soon as I get somewhere that is safe, I’m going to call her again. But, I just wish the dreams would stop.” Sean paused, trying to think of the right way to describe what he was getting at. “Because it’s not like happy memories. It’s more like I’m back home but things are different— _ I’m _ different. And Lyla is upset with me. And it feels just so real, like I’m actually there. But then I realize something’s not right and it's just a dream and I wake up.”

Joan laughed, her eyes lighting up with the spark of recognition. 

“That’s called lucid dreaming, Sean. It’s when you realize you are in the dream and can even change how the dream goes. Dreams like that can be very interesting.”

“Are they common?” Sean had never heard that term before.

“I suppose , but probably more so for artist types, like us.” Joan smiled conspiratorially. “You said you keep having the same one about your friend? That could be a sign you need to resolve something with her. Or it could be related to another problem in your life.”

Sean wasn’t so sure. “My main problem right now is getting to Mexico and making sure we avoid getting caught. So, I don’t know what these dreams about Seattle and her have to do with it.”

“It makes sense to me.” Joan stretched out her legs, taking a hard breath before continuing. “You are about to take a giant leap of faith. Tomorrow, you are planning to leave the United States and start your new life in Mexico. You are probably worried about the connection to your old life being severed, even if you can still communicate with people in a different country, especially in this day and age.”

“Yeah, it does feel real now. Puerto Lobos has always been our plan, but now it’s going to happen. There’s no turning back.” Sean lit another cigarette. “I was so sure it was the right thing to do. But, now I feel kinda like I am somehow undoing what Dad worked so hard for by coming here. And in these dreams, Lyla keeps telling me I should go to college with her and get a degree. It won’t be the same in Mexico. And Daniel will have a harder time in school. His Spanish is pretty bad. What if he flunks out and we both end up broke on the streets?”

Joan didn’t say anything right away, so Sean pushed on, to the worse of the doubt-filled thoughts that kept him second guessing everything.

“Do you think, maybe, I should just go to the police station and give myself up? I mean, maybe if I confess to murdering that cop then they’ll let Daniel go free. I thought about it before, when we were lost in the woods. It’s just the idea of being trapped in that jail and at the mercy of those guys who think I’m a cop killer—” 

Images flashed across Sean’s mind of what Hank and Chad had said about him, and the way that guard had looked at him in the hospital when Joey wasn’t around. Like he wanted to take Sean’s neck and snap it right then and there. And the story Finn had told him about his time in juvie when another guy stabbed him in the neck and he almost bled to death. 

Sean’s hand jerked, the cigarette flying out of it and landing on Joan’s pants. 

“Shit, sorry.” He rushed to get it, but Joan just laughed, pulling it up to her lips and taking a long drag. 

“Finders keepers.” She held the smoke in her mouth, slowly letting it out before handing the cancer stick back to Sean. He guessed if you already had cancer, another cigarette didn’t really matter. “I used to smoke, too, with my best friend.”

Sean sat back down, cupping his face in his hands. He felt Joan’s hand rubbing his shoulder, and they both sat there in silence for a few minutes until she spoke.

“Sean, do you really think your Dad would want you to do time in jail for a crime you didn’t commit? You wouldn’t have any opportunities there. And if they persuade a jury to find you guilty, you are looking at years or possibly even decades locked in a cage.”

“No,” Sean managed, sniffing and trying not to get upset. “But, Daniel—” 

“Loves and admires you, and he  _ will _ have opportunities in Mexico as long as you are there to help him. He’ll be fine.” Joan lowered her voice. “I didn’t get the privilege of meeting your Dad, but from what you guys and your mom tell me, he would be so proud of you, Sean. You stepped up and acted as Daniel’s parent while you were still grieving the loss of your _ own _ parent. He wouldn’t want either of his sons to end up incarcerated. Prison is a scary, hard place. You might end up abused, or worse.”

Joan squeezed his shoulder hard, making Sean look right at her. 

“Daniel wouldn’t want that, would he?”

“No,” Sean swallowed hard. “He—Daniel belongs with me. Even with Karen, I’m the one constant that’s stayed the same in his life. We need each other.”

“Yes, that’s why you are doing what you are doing tomorrow.” Joan eased up, leaning back against the swing.

“I know, but I still feel I am letting people down. I was reading Facebook last night and I was re-reading Lyla’s posts and she’s  _ not  _ okay. She’s struggling with depression and she’s on meds now. And, in one of her older posts, she mentioned to our friends that she got incompletes for two of her classes. She might not even graduate on time. And I had promised her we’d go to college together. I just left her, without saying goodbye. I just fucking left her behind. She probably hates me.”

The tears came full on now, and Joan rubbed his back until he could pull himself together. He hated being so emotional and crying all the time. Maybe Karen was right and he should see a psychologist to have someone to talk to when he got enough money. 

“I doubt that Sean. I never hated Maurice for leaving me.” 

“Who?”

“That’s  _ my _ best friend.” Joan put a hand to her chest, like saying his name was painful. “Let me tell you a little story, if you have time. It might be relevant to your dilemma. After San Francisco, a few of us got a place together in the country north of all the urban chaos. Maurice was a poet, like your mom, and he would sit out under the big oak trees writing and watching the waves go by as I worked on my ceramics and carvings and all the other passions I had those days. It was nice out there, real peaceful and all the fresh air was invigorating after my years in the city. A great place to do art.”

“It sounds nice.” Nicer than here, Sean thought. But he left that part out.

“It was.” Joan laughed heartily. “It certainly was.”

“So, what happened to Maurice? Why did he have to leave?”

Joan gave him the side eye, biting her lip like she was figuring something out.

“He was a lot like you in some ways, Sean. He was an artist, a dreamer, and so sensitive and loving. God, he could light up a room with a smile. But it was harder for people like him back then, especially being gay and Black. He was part of the radical movements I was in, but he really felt the oppression I had only experienced second hand. He was jailed several times for a protest that turned violent. Accused of maiming a cop, though it wasn’t him. No, he was a total victim of circumstance and prejudice.”

“So, he got put in jail?” Sean asked.

“He was convicted on flimsy evidence. They sent him to San Quentin, where he was beat near to death. And, that wasn’t the worst of it.” All the lightness left Joan’s voice, and when she held onto Sean again, he sensed it was for her own need. “I know you are young, but you’ve been through a lot, and given your situation, I think it’s right to disclose that he was raped, repeatedly, by inmates who targeted him for who he was—not just being gay but also ‘an other.’ They called him an anti-patriot and communist, among other slurs I won’t repeat. And all the while, the guards didn’t do anything to protect him.” 

“Fuck.” Sean wasn’t gay, but he did like guys too. If Joan saw similarities between them, then maybe… the same thing could happen to him. 

“After we scraped together enough money,” Joan continued, “our little band got him a lawyer and she was able to get the charges dismissed. He only had to suffer for five months. But after he was released, he was a changed man. The light had gone out of him. That’s when we left for the country. He needed to heal—we all did. For a few years, everything settled down. He found a lover. He was a Frenchman and the three of us had the best time staying up all night talking philosophy. But, when he published his series of essays, which were decidedly pro-communist and against government intervention in Latin America, he was accused of aiding a foreign spy. He was put on a list, and there were rumors he would be arrested again, and charged with treason or some other nonsense.”

Joan smiled down at her book. 

“So, that’s when he decided to leave. He couldn’t go back to jail again, so he got to France, by boat I might add, clever Maurice. And he spent the next fourteen years living in France with his partner. I missed him so much,” Joan smiled down at her book, but Sean could see her eyes getting watery. “God I missed him. But I knew with every fiber of my being that is where he belonged. And I had just given birth to a little girl, and it didn’t make sense for me to go with him. But, we exchanged letters. The letters were more like his poetry, observations of daily life in Paris. The flowers and architecture and the people. Every time I got one, I felt like we were still together having one of those late nights at the commune.” 

Joan coughed, and it took her a minute to compose herself.

“And so, when he got sick, and I had the means to travel, it was as if no time had passed. We spent his last days together reminiscing, and despite the horror of the illness, our friendship was as strong as it had ever been. Sorry for this long-winded tale of ancient history, Sean.” 

“No, it’s okay.” Sean wished he could think of something more thoughtful to say.

“What I am getting at is that friendships don’t end because you are apart, Sean. If Lyla loves you the way Maurice and I loved each other, she will understand why you made the choices you did. There is no world in which I would have preferred to see Maurice in person—even everyday, if it meant he was in jail. He needed to be free to be the man I loved. In fact, I would have  _ hated _ him for staying for me. Do you understand?”

“I think so.” Sean nodded. “He couldn’t keep being your friend if he went back to jail. It would have killed him to be caught by the cops. If not literally, then his soul.”

“Exactly, Sean. So I hope you don’t keep beating yourself up about having to go to Mexico. You are doing the very best thing for you and Daniel.”

“No, I feel a little better now.” Like he could breathe again. “And I think I know what I am going to do tomorrow.” 

Joan raised an eyebrow. 

“It was so fucking sweet of Finn to get me papers to cross.” Sean already missed him so much, even though it had only been a couple weeks since they spent that unforgettable day together. “But, it’s too dangerous. If the cops figure out they are fakes, then I don’t want to put Daniel in a risky situation. Karen said David knows a place we can cross—a section of the wall that’s not guarded. I’m sure Daniel can tear a hole in it, carefully. He’s so good at controlling his powers now.”

“Oh he’s quite skilled. And we have that amazing sculpture you helped him create to prove it. You two make quite a team. He’s lucky to have a brother like you to help guide him.”

“Yeah.” Sean’s mind finally felt steady, now that he had a plan. “I’m ready to try and sleep. Thanks…for everything.” 

“It will all work out, kiddo. It better, or I’ll have to have some firm words with the man upstairs when I get there. And he better watch out, because that won’t be too long from now.” 

Despite the morbidness of her joke, Sean laughed. They hugged, and Sean was surprised at how frail Joan felt. Maybe it was the love of her friends, past and present, that kept her going.


	4. Last Resort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **This chapter interprets one of the canon endings**
> 
> This story mostly takes part during and after Episode 5, and sticks closely to canon. It is the sequel to _Never Stop Shining_ , and is part 2 of the _Never Stop Series_. Although it can be read as a standalone story, I recommend reading Never Stop Shining first to fully appreciate this one.
> 
> This story evolved out of my need to know how Sean and Daniel dealt with the events that occur throughout the game, and ultimately find happiness and fulfillment in their lives. I am deeply indebted to my beta readers for improving this story: darkjaden825698 and Khoris!

**July 4th, 2017**  
**Southwestern Arizona**

  
  


It was all Sean could do to keep his hand holding the screwdriver steady as he started to screw the new license plate on Karen’s car.

But the sound of another vehicle swiftly approaching sent a jolt of fear through him, making the screwdriver drop from his hand. The license plate and small screws clanked down onto the dusty highway shoulder. 

But, it was just a beat up station wagon that motored passed him, blithely obvious to the fact that there was an active manhunt for him and Daniel now that they had busted out of jail. 

_Focus, dude. You gotta get this plate on NOW._

Everything since they left Away had gone so wrong. Daniel had carefully ripped open a hole in the border wall. But as they got back in the car to drive into Mexico, he was shot by fucking asshole vigilantes who stereotyped them as undocumented Mexicans. Sean had tried to reason with them, but he’d been shoved to the ground and held down until border patrol appeared.

And stupidly, he’d blurted out Daniel’s name when he saw him being carried into a cop car, looking lifeless. And that was it. He was arrested on the spot, delivered to jail, and thought for sure his life was over. But Daniel had come to his rescue, breaking them both out.

Now, they were back on the road and it was up to Sean to get them to safety. And time was running out. It was too dangerous to try to break through the wall again. What if there were more guards or thugs with guns?

They were down to the back up plan. Their last resort. 

Sean whispered another silent thanks to Finn, who had gotten them paperwork to make it look like they were Mexicans returning home on a visa, complete with photo IDs and a Mexican license plate. They should be able to just drive right through a checkpoint with these…

“Sean? Do you need help?” Daniel climbed out of the passenger door.

“No, I just need to get this plate on.” Sean’s hands were so trembling so much that the screw kept jiggling against the screwdriver. “Sorry. My hands are just sweaty.”

“It’s okay.” Daniel wrapped his fingers over Sean’s right hand. “Just let me do it.” 

Sean couldn’t find a reason to argue, even though he felt like the little pup had already done too much today. He held the plate steady against the back of the car as Daniel focused. The screw lifted into the air, and drove right through the plate, anchoring it snuggly on one side. Daniel quickly did the same with the other screw, and Sean checked its fit.

“Perfect! Th—thanks.” Sean’s voice broke.

“What’s wrong, Sean?” Daniel said. “I thought you said the secret identity Finn gave us will make it easy to cross? Why are you so nervous?”

“No, it will Daniel. I’m certain of it. We’ll be okay.” 

“Sean…” Daniel’s face tightened. “You promised you would be honest.”

“I know.” But Sean didn’t want to be.

He didn’t want to scare Daniel. It went against his every instinct. But, he _had_ sworn to tell him how he was feeling— _exactly_ what he was feeling from now on. That was part of the deal he’d made to be a better brother. 

He wrapped his hands over his face, feeling too ashamed to look at Daniel.

“I am fucking terrified of going back to jail and ending up in prison. Being in that jail cell last night scared me so much, Daniel. It reminded me of when that asshole from the gas station tied me up, and then of being locked in that hospital room for months. I don’t want them to capture and separate us. They think I killed a cop. That’s why they won’t leave us alone until we are in Mexico. If they catch us…catch me before we get there—then, they are going to hurt me. I won’t be there to protect you if that happens.”

He looked up when Daniel didn’t respond. His little brother had fear in his eyes now, too, and Sean immediately regretted saying anything.

“Don’t worry, _enano._ The officer said they won’t hurt you. They would let you go even if they catch—”

“Stop it!” Daniel yanked at his arm. “We’re not going to let them get you, Sean. But, if you don’t want to be caught, we have to go.” 

“Yeah, you’re right.” Sean wiped snot onto his sleeve, feeling weird that Daniel was the one comforting him. Rescuing him. He needed to step up, and step up now. “Let’s get the hell out of this country.” 

  
  
  
  


— 

  
  
  


Sean didn’t see or hear any other cars once they got back on the road. He hoped that was a good sign that the cop cars were going in the other direction.

He turned off at a fork towards a sign that read _Mexican Border ahead. Be prepared to stop_. Sean checked that the sunglasses Finn had given him to hide his bad eye were still in the door pocket. Then, he glanced in the rearview mirror at the beige envelope resting on the middle seat next to his backpack. Sean slowed the car as he turned to reach for it.

“Remember, if the security guards ask you anything, your name is Manuel Echav—” 

“Umm, Sean…” Daniel pointed in front of him, and Sean turned back to see the flashing sirens of half a dozen cop cars stopped right in front of the border crossing and completely blocking their way.

_Fuck. Fuck, Fuck!_

Sean slowed down and stopped, trying to think of what to do. The visas were useless now. There was no pretending to be someone else. They knew exactly who they were. Sean spotted Agent Flores there too, waiting for him. He’d been a complete idiot to think an official border crossing near the jail they’d broken out of wouldn’t be guarded. 

“Shit.” 

“Sean… what are we gonna do?”

Sean stared at the flashing lights. At the armed policemen, and at Agent Flores, who was ordering him out of the car in her strident voice. Like she already knew how it was going to turn out. Like this had been inevitable all along because Sean was too fucking stupid to avoid it. To save Daniel. 

Looking at the barricade, the weight of all those months on the run since Dad died suddenly sunk down on top of him. Sean melted into the steering wheel, feeling almost suffocated. He was beyond tired. Beyond being able to hope any more. Finn might have believed in him, but he’d been lying to himself this whole time. 

He couldn’t keep trying to be a parent to Daniel. He had tried but he wasn’t anything like Dad. He just kept making mistakes. Like the Grand Canyon in Arizona, the other side where freedom waited was so close. But impossible to reach. 

A thought that had been in the back of his mind since the heist, and since he’d gotten Daniel hurt just to steal fucking money came back. The horrible, depressing thought that Daniel would be better off without him. He pushed it away when his brother was lost, but maybe it was true. Daniel had gotten shot, again, because Sean hadn’t been watchful or smart enough to realize how dangerous the border was.

How could he ask Daniel to use his powers again to get them out of this situation? Now matter how fucking afraid he was of jail, and how much Daniel was the little star that kept his soul alive and warm. The only thing Sean _lived_ for. This was too dangerous. 

Two more patrol cars closed in behind them, blocking any chance of escape. Sean lifted his head from the steering wheel and turned to Daniel.

“You know, that day in Seattle?” Sean could see the last moment’s of Dad’s life in his mind’s eye. Dad rushing over to him, his only thought to protect his kids. “The day Dad was shot? I think about it everyday. And I would give anything to change what happened... but I can't. I'm sorry for my mistakes... I tried my best, _I swear._ ” 

If they were going to be separated, Daniel _had_ to know he would always love him. That he had done everything _for him_. And that Sean knew how much the little wolf had grown and how brave he’d been all this time.

“Sean…” Daniel sounded on the verge of crying. Sean tried to smile for them both, even though his heart was breaking apart—the pieces falling into the lonely, vast canyon where it would slowly drown without Daniel to lift him up.

“I’m so proud of you, _enano_ , just like Dad would be. We both learned a lot together. But, you make your own rules now.”

Sean paused. The next words he had to say were so crazy, he couldn’t believe he was going to say them. He couldn’t believe he was going to suggest it, not after everything he’d done to keep them together. Running from the cops from state to state. Crossing the desert, staring Nicolas’ gun in the face, getting punched and kicked so hard that when he’d taken Karen’s meds his body still ached for days on end. 

All to keep Daniel safe.

And he was going to give up. Because that’s what Daniel wants. He said at the police station he didn’t want to hurt anyone. This was the only fucking way. 

_Goddamnit fuck. Just say it and get it over with, dude. You have to._

“If we surrender, they _will_ separate us, Daniel.” Sean struggled to keep his voice steady. “And if that happens, promise me that you will always do the right thing, okay? Don’t waste your power. Be smart. Like you already are.”

“I don’t wanna be separated!” Daniel’s words shot Sean through the heart, shocking him. Did Sean hear him right? There was only one way to not be separated… Did Daniel really not want to surrender? 

“Whatever happens… always remember that you are _Daniel Diaz_.” Sean finished his speech anyway. It was so important if the little wolf lost both his Dad and his brother, he remembered where he’d come from. And the people who loved him since the day he was born.

“I hate promises… I’ll try…” Daniel looked incredulously at him, like he couldn’t believe what Sean was saying. What he was implying they do. Like he wanted them to stay together. 

Daniel didn’t want promises. He wanted actions. He wanted them to stay together and he didn’t want Sean to go to jail. It was so fucking dangerous but Daniel had to know that. He _had_ to by now. And staying together at all costs was what he wanted.

The heaviness started to lift off Sean, replaced by a thought that made him able to breathe again. To see a way forward. The thought that this somehow wasn’t going to be the end. Daniel wanted his big brother with him, even after everything they had gone through. Even after all of Sean’s mistakes and failures. 

“So how does the story of the wolf brothers end?” Daniel said quietly, waiting for Sean, waiting for him to say it. He trusted Sean to make the right decision, and had told him already what he wanted. What they _both_ wanted.

“Listen up! Step out of the car! NOW!” Agent Flores belted out another order from her bullhorn. The fucking bitch was acting like he had no choice.

Sean ignored it. All that mattered was his brother’s choice.

Still Sean froze there, his mind battling itself and his hands in a vice grip around the steering wheel. Dad loved this country like he’d told Daniel. Esteban was proud his sons were raised here. 

The story should end with Sean giving himself up, so Daniel could stay in the US. Shouldn’t it? That should be the last act of love the big wolf does for the little wolf before his freedom is stripped away. 

But Sean doesn’t say that. 

Dad had also said their bloodline was the most important. And Sean had just told Daniel he could make his own rules. And if Daniel wanted to stay together, he would be telling him another fucking lie by trying to stop him. By keeping them from being free. Karen’s voice rang in his head.

 _Don’t let them take away your freedom_.

She had sounded so emotional when she said that, like it was a matter of life and death. She had abandoned them to be free, but….maybe it really was death for her to stay, just like Joan’s friend. Who Joan would have hated for staying and letting the last light inside him die.

And Daniel would hate Sean too if he did that. Hadn’t Dad wanted them to stay together? That was the most important thing. He could still teach Daniel to be a good person. He could make him understand the difficult decisions in life. Like this one. They were making this decision together.

There weren’t that many cops. Maybe Daniel could push them to the side without hurting any like he had the ones at the station. After that, there was just a plain fence. It wouldn’t be hard for Daniel. Daniel was strong now, strong enough to protect them both, with Sean’s help.

Still, some might get hurt.

But as Sean stared at Agent Flores in her cocky, self-righteous pose, surrounded by a dozen men in the same uniform that the man who gunned down their Dad wore, the raw part of Sean wailed up inside of him. All those fucking cops trying to intimidate them with their sirens flashing and their hands on their holsters. The same ones who had worked with Madison, who shot Daniel and could have killed him. Who didn’t fucking care he was a kid. 

He didn’t trust them for one nanosecond. That cop at the station couldn’t be trusted when he said Daniel would be fine. He worked with the people who shot Daniel. If Sean gave himself up and they hurt Daniel, he’d never forgive himself.

And Sean wasn’t going to give them a chance to. 

He turned to Daniel, his voice hard. “They make it to the other side.”

“Wh—are you sure?” Daniel looked suddenly frightened.

“Trust me, okay?” Sean would drive sure and steady. He would give Daniel the strength to save both of them. “Just get us through.”

Sean kept his voice firm. He wanted Daniel to know he believed in him and knew he could get them across. Daniel always wanted to be equals. When Daniel had agreed to the heist, Sean had treated him like a kid, and they both had gotten hurt. 

Now, he was going to start letting Daniel decide if he wanted to use his powers or not. He had suggested surrendering, and that wasn’t what Daniel wanted. Not what either of them wanted. They would stay together.

So, Sean pressed his foot to the gas.

“Hold on tight.”

“What the fuck!” A policeman screamed as he dodged Karen’s car.

“I’m not hurting anyone else!” Daniel protested.

“It’s too late.” Sean said. “They are shooting at us Daniel! This is the _only_ way.”

Sean pushed forward, keeping his foot pressed on the petal, and Daniel knocked the cars over and out of their way. They were almost there.

Daniel was just nervous. Daniel could probably move the cars out of the way without hurting anyone, but Sean couldn’t promise that. Daniel had known this was gonna happen. He was just scared because they were in the middle of it. He would be fine in a few minutes after they were free. 

This was the right thing to do. This had to be. They had to get out of the USA even if it meant hurting a few cops. They had no choice if they were going to be together. This would be the last time Daniel had to hurt anyone. Just this last—

“I’m sorry Sean, but I have to go,” Daniel said out of the blue.

“What? What are you talking about?” 

They weren’t going anywhere but Mexico. Sean kept his hands on the wheel, keeping the car right in the middle of the road. That was just Daniel’s nerves talking. Once they got out of here, he’d calm down. Sean would hold him and comfort him. 

A few seconds later, Daniel busted open the flimsy fence.

“Don’t turn back for me.” Daniel’s door flew out from its frame, and his little brother followed a split second later. Sean frantically reached to grab him. But he was already gone.

“Daniel!”

Sean stared back at the rear view mirror. The superwolf turned over, putting his hands behind his back. He didn’t look hurt. Three cops were closing in on him, but Flores was there, signaling them to drop their weapons.

“What the fucking FUCK!” 

Sean’s body was frozen in place for several seconds, looking back at Daniel in the mirror, like this was a dream. It couldn’t be real. Could Daniel really be back there? Could he really have jumped out and left him? No, it wasn’t possible. It wasn’t—

“FUCK!!!!”

Sean smashed on the brakes but the car skidded and jerked, almost flying off into a four foot ditch. Sean let off the brake and the gas, so the car could coast to a slow stop. 

He had to go back for Daniel. He wouldn’t let Daniel be taken by the cops. He couldn’t live without Daniel. They had to stay together. They had to!

The car wasn’t slowing down. The accelerator must have gotten stuck. The only solution now was to kill the engine. 

But that was tricky to do since the cops took his keys and it was hot wired. He waited until the shoulder wasn’t as steep, passing an intersection and thankful no other cars were coming.

His mind was racing. He couldn’t make sense of anything. Daniel had been right there beside him, right up to the fence. He had wanted this. He’d told Sean that. Why did he jump? 

“DANIEL!” Sean screamed into the ether.

He reached down, glancing for a second to make sure he had the right wires and then he cut the engine off. When he looked up, he saw a piece of blown out tire at the bottom of a dip in the road. It took up most of his lane.

“Shit!”

Sean swerved to avoid the tire, but he corrected too late. The car smashed into the debris, sending it skidding sideways even as he decelerated. Sean pumped the brake, but he was unable to correct it.

The car ran off the shoulder, and as Sean tried to pull it back, he felt it tip, and the whole world was spinning for a second before a sudden pressure enveloped his face.


	5. The Other Side

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story mostly takes part during and after Episode 5, and sticks closely to canon. It is the sequel to _Never Stop Shining_ , and is part 2 of the _Never Stop Series_. Although it can be read as a standalone story, I recommend reading Never Stop Shining first to fully appreciate this one.
> 
>  **Note about Language**  
>  Starting in this chapter, Sean will be speaking in Spanish with other characters who primarily speak Spanish. But, I have written the conversations largely in English to make it easier for readers who don't speak Spanish. I have left some Spanish words in _italics_ to indicate a word that is new to Sean, or is being used in a way that stands out to him. 
> 
> This story evolved out of my need to know how Sean and Daniel dealt with the events that occur throughout the game, and ultimately find happiness and fulfillment in their lives. I am deeply indebted to my beta readers for improving this story: darkjaden825698 and Khoris!

**July 6th, 2017**  
**Sonora, Mexico**

  
  


“ _La temperatura de hoy llegará a los 38. Recuerden chicos, toma más agua que piensen es necesario. Y si trabaja fuera, hay que descansar en el sombro al menos cada hora_.”

Sean groaned, wishing whoever was talking would shut up and let him sleep. Then he realized everything she was saying was in Spanish. 

_Where the hell am I?_

He opened his good eye to see a small tv on a little wooden stand across from his bed. It looked like a local news station, with a plump lady recounting the weather.

Sean took in the small room. Its white walls were bare except for a framed photo of two boys. Both were dressed in nice white shirts like they were taking a formal picture. Beneath the photo was a little table, with a vase with bright red flowers on it. The only thing with color in the room. Through a small, square window Sean could see an enclosed yard, where several chickens were pecking in a small grassy area. 

Sean’s head was propped up by two pillows. He had a dull, throbbing ache that started in his forehead and shot down towards his neck that only got worse when he tried to move his head. His right arm felt stiff and heavy and Sean immediately saw why when he eased it out from under the thin blankets.

 _Shit._

His whole arm was in a cast. What happened?

He searched his mind, trying to put the pieces together. It was hard to think with his headache, but he remembered they’d reached the border. And the cops were waiting for them. And then Daniel jumped out of the car. 

No, that had to be another bad dream. But, then where the hell was his brother now? He couldn’t lose Daniel twice. What if Daniel was hurt and needed him?

“Help,” Sean called, his throat feeling like sandpaper. After a few feeble tries, the woman’s voice on the TV reminded him to switch to Spanish. 

“ _Ayudame_!” His voice disintegrated into a hacking cough. Fuck, he was so thirsty.

He didn’t know why he was here, but he wasn’t in a hospital, so hopefully he wasn’t under arrest. Had he really made it to Mexico? But, what had actually happened? If crossing the border hadn’t been a dream then had Daniel—

“Ah!” A slight man with a round, scruffy face and small glasses stepped in, immediately grinning at him. He looked over 60, with bright eyes and an impish grin. He spoke rapidly in Spanish, and Sean tried to keep up.

“You are awake finally? How wonderful. You look much better. Did you sleep well? Do you like soup?” The man started listing off various types before Sean interrupted him. 

“Sorry, but who are you? Why am I here? Please, my brother—”

“You are somewhere safe.” The small man gripped Sean’s shoulder. “But you need to drink and eat before you try to talk. Wait for me just a minute.” 

Before Sean could protest, the energetic man disappeared. Sean felt like shit and the prospect of something to drink sounded like heaven. But all he cared about was knowing where his brother was.

He stared at the commercials on TV, most of which were focused on advertising hotels and restaurants in some place called _Puerto Peñasco_. Something about that name seemed familiar, but Sean couldn’t place it.

“Here we are.” The funny older man set down a bowl of soup and glass of water on a little stand next to him on the left side of the bed, so Sean could use his left hand. Was his right arm…broken? 

“Drink the water first.” The man said. “You haven’t had any liquids in over a day. Do you need help, _compañero_?” 

“No,” Sean took the glass and brought it to his lips. As soon as the cold water hit his tongue he gulped it down. The man laughed and motioned to the soup. “Now eat. Don’t worry. It’s good, clean broth. Healing for the soul, and the body, too!”

Sean lifted up the soup, finding it easier with his eye to just sip it from the bowl rather than try to use the spoon. The little man scooted his chair so he had a better view of the TV, talking to himself about a news story of a golf and resort construction project.

“Thanks for the food, and umm, taking care of me.” Sean spoke slowly, making sure he didn’t trip over his words. It was hard to talk only in Spanish when he was so emotional, but at least his head felt better. “Please, can you tell me where I am and who you are?”

“Oh, yes! Of course. I’m Fernando Villa Nieves. Just call me Fer.” He killed the sound on the TV, moving himself and his chair in one quick gesture so he faced Sean. “And you are in the very beautiful, very sad town of Puerto Peñasco. Or maybe you know it as Rocky Point, like the gringos call it.” Fer made a disgusted face, like the English words were too bitter on his tongue. “This is our house. Well, Luz’s house. But we don’t worry about capitalistic things like who owns what in _this_ house.”

Fer winked like Sean was in on the joke. 

“Puerto Peñasco? Is that near the border?” Sean felt so disoriented. Then he remembered why the name sounded so familiar. He’d seen the town on his map, and it wasn’t that far from Puerto Lobos. “I’m in Mexico right? I made it?”

“Yes, _compañero._ You did!” Fer smiled widely and Sean could see he was missing a couple teeth. “Though I don’t know for how long if we hadn’t found you.” 

“Found me? What happened? I don’t remember everything. I don’t understand how I got here or why you are helping me.” If that was really what Fer was doing. Sean wanted to think there were still good people in the world. But after meeting so many racists and assholes, it was getting hard. “Can you just tell me exactly what happened? I need to find—”

“Calm yourself, son. You have been through the gauntlet, but you’re safe now.” 

Fer told him that he had come across Sean’s car turned over on the road, with Sean knocked out inside of it, still strapped into the seat belt. Luz and Fer had got him out and took him back to Luz’s house, where Fer had set his arm. 

“It’s a clean break. Just keep it from getting wet and keep the weight off, and it should heal just fine. You are lucky you weren’t hurt worse. If you had had a passenger, they would have been crushed. The car landed on the passenger side when it hit the ditch.” 

“You didn’t find my brother then? There wasn’t anyone else in the car?” 

“No,” Fer looked sad. “Sorry, he’s been taken by the _federales_. We read that in the papers. They have little Daniel but they don’t know about you.”

“Fuck, no.” Sean started to cry. It hadn’t been a dream. He had lost Daniel, and wrecked Karen’s car. He hadn’t even been competent enough to go back and turn himself in. “Daniel’s locked somewhere in a jail. It should have been me. I should be the one in jail.” 

“For why?” Fer came over, half easing himself down the bed and putting his hand lightly on Sean’s shoulder. “You didn’t do anything wrong. It was the government. They wanted a scapegoat for the public, no? You didn’t kill that cop, did you?” 

“No.” Sean shrugged Fer’s hand off. “How do you know so much about me and Daniel? What do you want with me?” 

“Easy, it’s okay.” Fer held his hands up in a placating gesture. “We don’t want anything _from_ you, Sean. We want to help you. Well, Luz does and I agree with her. The news reports say your brother is being held in custody, but they haven’t charged him with anything. He is probably okay at this moment.”

“But, you just randomly rescue people on the side of the road? Wouldn’t you have called 911, or whatever you have here in Mexico? Why did you take me to your house?” 

Fer grinned like he had a surprise for Sean. He went over to the table with the flowers and opened a drawer underneath it, pulling out a manilla envelope. It was the one Finn had given him with the visa cards. He gestured from the envelope up towards the framed picture of the two boys.

“These two. They are Adan and Manuel! And they were Alfreda’s sons, and Luz’s nephews. You and Daniel were supposed to use their identification and car plate to cross. But, I guess it didn’t work out exactly. We don’t understand how one of you managed to get through but not the other?”

 _Don’t turn back for me._

Daniel’s words came back to him and Sean choked down another sob. He still couldn’t believe that Daniel was gone. How could he explain the impossible?

“We managed to get the gate open. But Daniel jumped out at the last minute.” Once Sean said it, it was somehow more real. Sean was alone now. And with a stranger who he still didn’t trust. “Sorry, but I have to ask…even if those visas belonged to your family, how did you know I would be in the ditch? This all seems like a huge coincidence.”

“Ah, but maybe there are _no_ coincidences. Maybe you came here for a reason, and your brother didn’t. Also for a reason?” 

Fer’s smile died when it became apparent Sean didn’t find his suggestion amusing. 

“No, you are very sharp. We went looking for you on purpose.” Fer pointed his gnarled finger to the TV. “When the news reported two fugitives escaping the border jail and we saw it was you two on TV, we wanted to see if we could help you. Luz had read all about how your dad was killed, and the crazy accusations they were making about you. She’s followed your case since her sister decided to sell the visas for the funeral money. She has a soft spot for helping people. One of her _only_ soft spots.” 

Fer grinned, pulling out a cigarette and opening the window more widely. “Mind if I smoke?”

Sean shook his head. He kinda wanted one now too, but his head hurt too bad.

“Honestly,” Fer continued. “I didn’t think we would find you. By the time the alert went out, I told her either you boys would have already passed through the border or you would have been arrested. But she still wanted to try. The border is only an hour from here, anyway. We thought if we spotted you, we could flag you down, and give you a place to hide or maybe just some food and tips to help you on your journey. We didn’t know if you would have just sped away from us, either. It was a long shot, but Luz is tenacious when her mind is made up. You’ll see when she gets home.”

“Okay.” Sean didn’t know what to think about any of this. He stared at the picture of the two boys. They were basically the same age as him and Daniel. Their family must have been devastated to lose them both so suddenly. Finn had said they’d been victims of gang violence. Was Puerto Peñasco a dangerous town?

“But, it’s good in a way that you crashed.” Fer continued, his speech just as fast as his movements. “Because they are already putting your name up on posters in Puerto Lobos. The US government can’t search inside the state of Sonora directly, but they have a reward out there for any citizen to report you on sight to the Mexican police. See, they have to know where you are at to extradite you.”

Sean sat there, absorbing all of this new information. He remembered another detail. In the letter about the two boys that Finn had given him, it had said they lived in Puerto Peñasco. Sean had planned to say that was where they were headed if the Border agents had questioned him— if everything had gone the way it was supposed to. 

Instead, he’d panicked and tried to cross the border and ended up losing Daniel. 

Daniel had said he didn’t want to be separated. Had he been lying? Maybe Sean’s own selfishness had blinded him. The little wolf had sounded so scared when Sean started driving. Why hadn’t he stopped the moment Daniel said he didn’t want to hurt anyone? He had been such a fucking idiot and now he’d lost Daniel forever. 

_The little wolf must hate me. That’s why he told me not to turn back._

“Cheer up.” Fer stubbed his cigarette butt on the windowsill. “We saw no one the whole time while we were getting you out of the car. I don’t think anybody followed us. So, they have no idea you are here. So we can let the _pinche_ _federales_ think you might have crawled out and died in the sand. That gives Luz and us time to plan.”

“Died?” Sean suddenly realized that if the cops thought he was dead, then Daniel might, too. He couldn’t let Daniel worry about him. He pictured Daniel locked up in a cell like he had been in the police station, being interrogated by Agent Flores and maybe her even telling Daniel about the car crash. Asking if he had staged crashing his car. Daniel would be terrified not knowing what happened. 

“I have to go turn myself in.” Sean forced himself up ignoring the sharp pain that ripped through his upper body. 

“No, no, no, young man. You are too weak! You need to rest more before—”

“No way! I have to find Daniel. I can’t let him think I’m dead.” Sean swung his legs off the bed, and with his good arm, pushed himself on two feet. His legs felt super wobbly, and he braced himself against the hard wall. 

“Calm yourself. We have ways to get that message to him. Once he’s not in the hands of—”

“NO!” Sean shoved Fer’s arm off him, and took a few steps towards the door. But, a strong wave of nausea rushed over him, and his legs buckled. Fer caught him as he retched. The contents of the broth he’d just drank spilled out on the tile floor. 

“Easy. Take a breath.” Fer rubbed his back as Sean kept vomiting. Soon, he was just dry heaving. After what felt like hours, he finally stopped. The nausea was lessened, but his headache rushed back with a vengeance. 

“You are no good to your brother this way. You have a minor concussion, and if you try to force yourself, you are going to hurt your recovery.”

“But, my brother…” 

“We will talk about it when Luz gets home, ok?” But Fer wasn’t asking a question. He took his arms, and without waiting for permission, eased Sean back onto the bed. His expression was stern for once. “I am going to bring you more water, and pain pills. Then you will rest, and we’ll talk after that.” 

Sean sat on the bed, feeling on the verge of crying and vomiting at the same time. The thought of Daniel being locked up in some dark cell all alone was horrible. He had to get out of here, but he didn’t try to get out of bed again. Fer was right. He wouldn’t make it out of the front door, much less to the border right now. 

So, he took the two pills and drank another glass of water that Fer had laid on the nightstand. The older man cleaned up his puke and left him in the room alone, turning off the TV and pulling the blinds over the window. Sean was tired, but he didn’t want to go to sleep. He started to feel spacey, having a hard time focusing his mind on the burning problem it was trying to resolve. 

How had he misread Daniel’s intentions so badly? 

He’d been about to turn himself in, but Daniel had said he wanted to stay together. That was what was supposed to happen. Why did Daniel not want to come with him? After all those months together, and after the promises they made to each other to be honest and to forgive themselves, Sean had thought they were finally on the same page. He had even believed that they were the closest they’d ever been in their whole lives. 

But, Daniel obviously had not that thought the same way. He didn’t even want to be in the same car with Sean. He just bailed while the car was in motion, not even giving Sean a chance to stop him. It was like he had been planning to leave him this whole time.

_But why?_

And Sean had kept driving, just leaving Daniel behind, like he’d left everyone else behind. He’d done the impossible. He’d made it to the other side. He’d crossed the border, but for what? Some selfish, foolish dream of him and Daniel being free in Mexico. 

All the people he cared about were separated from him by a rift far wider than one in the Grand Canyon. And he was still a fugitive. He was hiding from the police while his little brother was in jail. Daniel had been the real hero. He’d been a coward. He was such a complete failure as a friend, a son and as a brother. 

As soon as he could walk without throwing up, he would do the right thing and turn himself in. 


	6. Breaking Through

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story mostly takes part during and after Episode 5, and sticks closely to canon. It is the sequel to Never Stop Shining, and is part 2 of the _Never Stop Series_. Although it can be read as a standalone story, I recommend reading _Never Stop Shining_ first to fully appreciate this one.
> 
> This story evolved out of my need to know how Sean and Daniel dealt with the events that occur throughout the game, and ultimately find happiness and fulfillment in their lives. I am deeply indebted to my beta readers for improving this story: darkjaden825698, souvenirsfromapastlife and Khoris!

“Maybe you should check on her?”

Jenn inclined her head towards Eric’s porch, where Lyla was lying on an old wooden swing. “Just to make sure she really doesn’t want to go out on the boat?”

“Okay, I guess I should.” Sean kissed Jenn on the cheek and got up from their blanket on the expansive grass. 

Eric and Ellery were already down at the dock, fucking around with the swim noodles his aunt kept for her kids. No one was left at the lakeside cabin except Lyla. She didn’t stir as he walked up the creaky porch steps.

“Are you still napping? You slept all morning.”

“Uh.” Lyla grunted, and Sean noticed the heavy bags around her eyes, like she’d been crying. 

“What’s wrong?” 

Lyla groaned and turned over, pressing her face into the back of the swing. A foreboding feeling washed over Sean. One that was strangely familiar.

“Lyla, what’s the matter?” He pressed a hand to her back. “Say something.”

But Lyla didn’t answer him.

“Let her be, Sean.” Jenn called to him, beckoning him to come. “She must be too hungover from last night. She’ll sleep it off.”

Jenn pulled off her shirt, revealing her sexy purple bikini top. She threw her shirt in Sean’s direction. “Last one to the rope swing has to take it all off!”

She sure did look hot dressed only in her bikini—had she been tanning, too? Sean took a half step towards her, but something about her words didn’t sit well.

Lyla never drank more than one beer—except on her birthday at the Misty Mike concert. Even at Adam’s party she stayed sober. She wouldn’t be wasted. Something wasn’t right. 

“Come on Sean!”

He looked back and forth between his girlfriend and Lyla, and it dawned on him he didn’t have a girlfriend. He’d never been to Eric’s cabin. He’d missed his chance the night of—

_I’m dreaming._

Sean stared at his surroundings—the cabin, the deck, the lake and his friends. The more he stared, the more the scene around him started to look off. Like hazy, half blurred. Everything was flat and out of proportion—like a hastily sketched drawing. Only Lyla was in focus.

 _Very strange._

Sean lifted his hand up, and realized he was holding a rubber eraser. 

_Hmm, I wonder..._

He pressed the eraser toward the sky, and felt a sudden pressure, like it was rubbing against paper. He pushed in a straight line across the sky, and the blue faded into whiteness. 

_Whoa…_

He looked at his right hand, at the eraser in it, stunned at what just happened. Was this dream like…one of his drawings? Like paper from his sketchbook and he could erase it all like marks on the page. What did that mean?

But instead of analyzing it, he moved the eraser more quickly and confidently in front of him, and everywhere he moved the eraser, things disappeared. Jenn, the woods, the frame of the cabin, and deck he stood on. He carefully worked his eraser around the swing, slowly obliterating everything except Lyla. 

He wasn’t not entirely sure why, except she seemed to be the only living, breathing thing here. The only part of the sketch that looked right. He erased all the edges of the swing around her, like he was cutting out the background on a character portrait. 

He erased the last stray lines, and all of the sudden, he was in Lyla’s bedroom. It was night time, and he could smell the familiar scent of her mother’s candles, burning in different spots around the room—the only light besides the moon streaming in through her open window. 

Lyla was still in the same position, curled up on her side, but on her bed. She looked fast asleep.

“Lyla.” Sean started towards her, but a large poster board on the wall opposite the bed caught his eye. 

The board was covered with dozens of photos and assorted pieces of paper, lit by the orange hues of two large candles placed underneath it. The candle light made the board look almost like the _ofrendas_ Dad would make for his parents on _Dia de Los Muertos_.

“Oh my god,” Sean muttered, moving his fingers over the pictures and papers.

There were news clippings from the shooting, and journalistic articles about police brutality and interviews with some group called _Familias Unidas Contra Violencia Estatal_. There was a list of names of various governmental officials with checks and lines crossed through them, like Lyla had been contacting them. A calendar marked with different dates of protests and meetings made Sean wonder if Lyla had attended—or maybe even organized them. 

In between the papers were dozens of pictures. Most were of him and Lyla, or him alone, taken from all the way back to middle school. There they were in the stupid play Lyla’s mom had taken pictures of for the yearbook. Lyla had played the ghost of a dead girl and Sean played her widowed husband—so awkward. 

There were so many selfies of them on the bus, or posing around the grounds of their school. He smiled at the one of Lyla hanging upside down from the monkey bars pretending to be dead while Sean pretended to cry mocking their parts in the middle school play. And grouped together were pictures of her with Daniel, that Sean had taken. 

At the very center was the picture she’d recently posted on her Facebook, of both of them smiling at their favorite chill spot at Meyer park. They both looked so happy. Right above the picture, Lyla had written two lines in bold black ink, one half scratched out.

I ~~’ll see~~ you ~~again~~ , brother.  
FAILED 

Sean stared at the word written in all caps with shaky, broad strokes. _I failed you, brother_. What the fuck did she mean by that?

A cell phone buzzed on her dresser, and Sean couldn’t help but glance at the messages coming rapid fire one right after another. Despite the loud vibrations, Lyla didn’t stir from her spot on the bed. 

_Maricel_ :   
_Are you coming tomorrow??? We need YOU!_  
_Please answer me this time? I am getting worried_  
_Don’t give up hope, babe. We don’t know what happened yet. There are so many possibilities. We need your voice. He needs your voice._  
_Call me back as soon as you get this. I’m waiting up for you._

Sean stared at the messages, not sure who Marciel was, but he had a sickening feeling he knew who the ‘he’ was that she was talking about. A few moments later, the phone buzzed again.

 _Jenn:_   
_Just heard the news- I am heart broken :( :(_  
_Sorry, I was at my family’s for the holiday and we didn’t have cell service._  
_I know you must be going through hell and I can’t fix anything. But, if you need someone to talk to I am ALWAYS here._

No, it couldn’t be possible. Sean looked at the calendar on Lyla’s board again, which showed July 2017. That was _this_ month. If this was a dream, how could it be so fucking realistic and detailed? Lyla couldn’t actually think…. 

He turned back to her bed, and for the first time noticed the empty bottle of wine and a small plastic pill bottle overturned on the floor. White pills were scattered all over her carpet.

“Lyla!” Sean raced to his best friend, grabbing and shaking her. “Lyla! Wake up. You didn’t fail me! You fought so hard and believed in me and every time I called you answered! And with everything you are doing with these groups and helping people—it’s amazing. You’ve done so much more than I could ever do. And you’re the only friend I have left, Lyla. You’re my best friend. Please, wake up!”

Sean hugged her, rocking her body, and pulling Lyla over on her back. She looked pale, and he couldn’t tell if she was breathing.

“Lyla! I’m not dead. I am right here, and I love you! Please, I need you to be alive. I’m so, so sorry for leaving you behind. I’m sorry.” Sean sobbed, cradling her. “And for running away and making you worry about me all this time. I should have stayed in Seattle and turned myself in. I put you through hell and you never deserved it.”

Lyla’s eyes shot open. 

“Sean!”


	7. A Brother Like You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story mostly takes part during and after Episode 5, and sticks closely to canon. It is the sequel to _Never Stop Shining_ , and is part 2 of the _Never Stop Series_. Although it can be read as a standalone story, I recommend reading Never Stop Shining first to fully appreciate this one.
> 
> This story evolved out of my need to know how Sean and Daniel dealt with the events that occur throughout the game, and ultimately find happiness and fulfillment in their lives. I am deeply indebted to my beta readers for improving this story: darkjaden825698 and Khoris!

**July 7th, 2017**  
**Puerto Peñasco, México**

  
  


Sean dunked his head under the bath water one more time, trying to get Lyla’s voice out of his mind. 

How could a dream like that be so real? Especially when being here—in a complete stranger’s bathroom and in a foreign town without Daniel—felt so _unreal_. 

He could have sworn he’d been in Lyla’s room; it had looked exactly the same, except messier, and with that wall...had he just been doing what Joan told him about? What did she call it? Lucid dreaming? Maybe he invented all of that out of his fucked up head, even the pills and alcohol by her bed. 

Joan said you take control of your dreams and change them to what you wanted them to be when you lucid dreamed. But seeing like Lyla like that wasn’t anything that Sean would ever want. If this is what Joan had meant by the price of being an artist, it sure as hell wasn’t worth the cost.

No, all these crazy dreams were just his imagination on overdrive. Maybe he was mentally damaged from the car crash, or from the coma, and these dreams were a symptom. He probably belonged in a psych ward.

But, maybe it was just a reminder from his subconscious that no one knew he was alive. Lyla must be worried sick about him just like Daniel. He had to get out of here and let everyone know he was okay. 

He carefully climbed out of the tub and toweled himself off, mindful not to get his cast wet. It was hard to remember to use his left hand since he was right handed. He so hoped Fer was right and it would heal okay. He couldn’t lose his ability to draw. That was the one thing he had left now that he lost everything else.

It took a long time, but he eventually managed to get dressed in fresh clothes Karen had gotten him as a parting gift—a pair of dark shorts and t-shirt with a steampunk drawing on it that reminded him of Joan’s paintings.

He looked at himself in the mirror, happy to see only one, small cut on his right cheek. He had discovered several other lacerations and bruises before he got in the bath, most of them on his right side. From what Fer had told him, the right frame of the car had collapsed and part of the door frame had jammed against his elbow, snapping the bone. If it hadn’t been for the air bag, it might have wedged deeper, into his stomach. He was still shocked to have survived another near fatal accident.

Besides his brother, Sean didn’t have a huge list of people who would miss him. Lyla and Finn were at the top of that list. God, he wished he could hear Finn’s voice right now, and feel his arms wrapped around his body like that day in Joshua Tree. Finn could make him feel so much better and grounded, and Finn was the whole reason Sean was taken in by these two. And he and Lyla were probably worried sick about him. 

He couldn’t bear the thought of any of them thinking he was dead. Even Karen and his grandparents deserved to know he was okay. 

But he had no idea how exactly to turn himself in. He couldn’t drive to the border. He guessed he could go to a Mexican police station if Fer gave him directions. But, the old guy wanted him to talk to Luz first. Would she be as crazy as him? 

Probably, Sean decided. 

Anyone who would want to bring a random stranger into her home and hide him from the cops had to be off. But, then again, he’d met some other strangers on the road who had helped him for no reason. Like that trucker in Nevada who’d given him a sandwich when he’d been so hungry and overheated. 

Maybe these people were actually good and he needed to stop being so jaded. He just felt like he couldn’t trust anyone without taking a big risk. He was still super weak and his headache lingered, but he was turning himself in today.

So it didn’t actually matter what he said about his past to these people who took him in. The only thing he had left to hide was Daniel’s secret. He just hoped that Daniel had been smart enough to tell the cops that Sean was the one who broke open that fence and turned over the cop cars. He’d taken Daniel so many times that the cops couldn’t be trusted. 

Sean opened the door to the bathroom and carefully shuffled into the modest living room, furnished with an overlarge couch, rugs, and a little dining area tucked in the corner.

Through a sliding glass door Sean had a better view of the courtyard. It was covered with big, tropical plants and a green space with a little fountain in the center, where the chickens peeked for seeds. There was also a sitting area that looked nice and shaded under a tin roof with cushy chairs and books piled high all around. A woman with short cropped hair sat in one of those chairs, typing on her cell phone.

“Feeling better?” Fer stepped into the living room, spatula in hand, “I’m making omelets. Go talk to Luz and before you know it I’ll have one for you.”

“Oh, ummm….thanks.”

Sean paused, his hand on the sliding glass door. 

“Don’t worry, she won’t bite.” Fer grinned as he helped Sean open the door. Sean felt nervous, but he didn’t want to keep this woman waiting. Not if he was staying in her house, even if he planned to leave today.

Warm, balmy air greeted him as he stepped outside. With all the colorful flowers and the sounds of birds chirping, it felt tropical. Luz smiled up from her cell phone. She looked about Fer’s age, maybe a few years younger with a heart-shaped face and little freckles coloring her cheeks.

“I’m Luz, welcome to my home. You are very brave doing what you did.” Luz stood and reached out her hand.

“Hi.” Sean felt the exact opposite but he extended his left hand anyway. 

She smiled and grasped it tightly between her own. Sean was surprised by how firm it was for an older woman. “Now sit. I brought you a little coffee. How did you sleep?”

“Good.” _Except for that dream._ Sean sipped his coffee. With the shade and a little fan above them, it was kinda nice out in Luz’s courtyard. 

“And your head and arm? They don’t hurt too much?”

“No, just a little.”

Luz smiled. “Fer is an excellent surgeon. Fortunately in your case he didn’t have to do much more than set the bone and wrap you up. You should be able to take it off in a few months.”

A few months? That felt like forever.

“Thanks so much. To both of you,” Sean said. “I really appreciate you saving me from that car wreck, and letting me stay in your place the last few days. But, I really have to get back to the states and find my brother.”

“Fer told me you want to turn yourself in.” Luz’s smile faded. “I thought to save this talk for after breakfast. But if it’s on your mind, it is better to get it out of the way now. There might be another option. But, before we can be sure of that, I have a couple hard questions I need to ask. And I need you to be honest. I know you might be hesitant to talk to me. But, I can’t help you without knowing the answers. Do you feel okay enough to talk?”

“Yeah.” Sean wasn’t sure exactly how to proceed. He wanted to get right to the point and ask where the closest police station was. But, that felt too rude since he’d already stayed at her house for a few days. He could answer a few of her questions before disappointing her.

“Good.” Luz took a breath and looked him in the eyes. “Do you want to turn yourself in because you had something to do with killing that cop?”

“No!” Fuck, it still hurt when someone asked him that. “He shot my Dad for no reason. He thought my little brother or me had hurt our asshole neighbor. But, all that happened was he got food coloring on his shirt. And then my dad tried to intervene, and….the cop shot him. There was an explosion, and the cop was dead. That’s all I know.”

Luz nodded sadly and he sensed she didn’t like having to ask these questions. She took a sip of coffee, and continued.

“That’s what it looks like from my reading of the news and police reports. Maybe he hit a gas line or his gun back fired on a second shot and hit his own engine. You two were children. You didn’t have access to explosives that could have caused that.”

“No, we were just so scared so we ran. I didn’t know what else to do. I had to protect Daniel—he is just a kid. And that’s why I need to turn myself in. I know he’s in their custody now and they could charge him for hurting that cop.”

Luz frowned, and handed him a tissue. It took several moments for Sean to stop crying. The image of Daniel jumping, and then of him in the rear view mirror was so awful and it wouldn’t leave his mind.

“Poor boy. You’ve been through too much for your age. I am sorry I have one more difficult question to ask you,” Luz said. “Can you tell me exactly what happened to Daniel? From my investigations, it looks like you were captured at the border wall on Monday. But you escaped the next morning, on July 4th. We heard the police bulletin around 10 or 10:30 that morning and waited for you by the intersection where you turned towards our town or towards Hermosillo. We saw you driving really fast and heard your car crash at the bottom of the road. But your brother wasn’t in the car, thank heavens. Did the authorities recapture him sometime in between?”

“No, well yeah they did.” Sean fought hard to keep his voice steady. “But, he gave himself up willingly. He helped me open the fence and then he—he fucking jumped out of the car.”

Sean covered his face with his hands, fresh sobs coming. 

“Sorry.”

“Luz, what are you doing to the boy?” Fer appeared, carrying food. “I thought you promised to be nice? He was looking so good after that scrub in the bath. And smelling better too!”

“Shush, Fer. This is serious. Can’t you be for once?”

Sean sniffed and swallowed back tears as he looked up at the plate of food. It smelled good, but Sean had no appetite. Fer sat down in a little wooden chair between him and Luz, winking at Sean. 

“Don’t mind her. I told you she’s all hard edges.”

Luz shook her head, but the edges of her mouth crinkled open. When she looked back at Sean she had a puzzled expression on her face.

“Sean, that is very sad about your brother. And strange he would leave you like that after you traveled so far together.”

“I know! I don’t understand why. I so wish I did. But, I think maybe he was afraid, and he wanted me to turn myself in. The police—and this detective they had on my case—she told me I could surrender peacefully. But I didn’t. No, my brother is paying the price.”

Sean stared into his coffee, too ashamed to look them in their eye. He could feel Luz and Fer exchanging glances. 

“Son, maybe he was afraid of coming to Mexico. Maybe he had fears he didn’t want to say to you.”

“No! He was excited about it, I swear! Right before he got shot by those assholes he was telling me how excited he was to see Dad’s house and be at the beach and—”

“What do you mean shot?” Luz’ tone was sharp. “The border agents shot your ten year old brother?”

“No, it was weird and fucked up. These people that had a jeep and guns came on us out of nowhere, and shot him. I guess they are hired by the border patrols- to look for people trying to cross over to the US.”

“Paramilitary,” Fer said. “They are used very frequently by the states to do their dirty work. Same here in Mexico.”

“Yes, it’s true.” Luz said. “Sean, is that how you were initially captured?”

“Yeah.”

“ _Pinche federales_ ,” Luz said, her voice suddenly on fire and her small jaw squaring. “Of course those liars left that out of their report. Hiring thugs to go around shooting children. Your brother must have been scared. Still, you were his own family for the last ten months. To jump out of your car....”

Luz shook her head, frowning. 

“Is there something more you aren’t telling me about that day?”

“No!” Sean said. “We got through the fence and he just bailed but I can’t explain it. I wish I could.”

Sean forced back tears. He needed to stop feeling sorry for himself. Daniel was the one suffering.

“About that,” Luz said. “You told Fer you broke through the fence. But, there was no damage to the front of the car- only the right side. So how did you open it and also pass the cop cars without getting detained or damaging your vehicle?”

Sean shook his head. As much as this lady might want to help, there was no way he was going to mention Daniel’s powers. What if they were secretly working with Agent Flores, trying to get him to confess?

“I don’t know. We got lucky.”

Luz and Fer exchanged a look. Fer leaned over and put his rough hand on Sean.

“You see that—” Fer pointed to the chicken coop in the corner, brightly painted with yellow walls and a green door. It had an arched entryway and even little glass windows. Sean was surprised at how nice it was for a chicken coop. “Adan built that for when I got Luz chickens.”

Luz coughed and stood up, turning away from them and looking at her phone again. Fer lowered his voice and continued.

“He had such a heart of gold, companero! He didn’t want them to stay cold or catch rain. I brought over a tarp, but it was not enough, he said. They need a proper house, a place to have their eggs and sleep safely from the raccoons. He loved animals as much as he loved his family. So he used his carpenter skills and built it all in one weekend. Oh, and when he showed it to his little brother, Manny wanted to paint it! Adan helped him pick out the colors. He was just a good brother like you are. All spring colors for Manuelito. He used to love going with us for a day in the mountains and seeing the little wildflowers and all the birds. And you see how nice it turned out?”

“Yeah.” Sean could tell Adan had real talent.

“You should have seen it. Manny had just learned how to bake and he made the chickens little berry treats all by himself. The hens went crazy for them! Both boys had so much love in their hearts. And Adan would have been a real artist, like you with your sketches. He was getting ready to start his apprenticeship, when him and little Manuel were shot down. Killed for ‘throwing stones’ at the border patrol agents. 16 and 12! 16 and 12 and dead the poor little angels!”

“Finn told—I thought they were killed by a gang.” Had Sean misremembered?

“ _Pendejos._ Each one.” Luz turned back, fire in her eyes. “They lied about who killed them. It took us getting video footage that was almost erased to find out the truth. And then the story about rocks came out. And the Sonora Office of Justice accepted that allegation without doing any investigation. They were murdered by the state just like your dad.”

Luz sat down again, waving off Fer’s hand. She bought up a picture on her phone of a curly haired woman hugging two boys on a beach. They looked a little younger, but it was obviously Adan and Manuel. Adan was laughing and Manuel had a shy smile on his face, like one of them had just told a joke. They looked like a happy, normal family.

“ _This_ is why we are helping you. I admit, I was initially opposed when my sister Rafaela approached about selling her visas to help you two. It is risky. But she was adamant about doing something good for you two boys. Rafaela told me about how your father was Mexican and came to the states to give a better life for his sons, and he died trying to protect you from a cop scared of brown people the same way her sons were targeted. She saw it as a way of making up for not being able to protect her babies. This is personal for me.”

Sean nodded, at a loss for words. It must have been terrible to lose both her nephews at once.

“But, I need you to be honest if I am going to build a case for your asylum. You are not safe in the US—that is obvious. The US will also build a case for your extradition and I have to understand why there was so much damage to property at each place you fled. Along with the full story about crossing the border. I just met you but you don’t seem capable of violence and of destroying so much. I had thought to find you full of rage like I had at your age. You are different, though. Is your brother—does he have emotional problems?”

“No, he’s a normal kid!” Sean tried and failed to keep his voice even. Why was she asking these questions?

“Calm yourself.” Luz said. “I am just trying to work out what happened. And your brother’s actions may be used to further paint you in a negative light as a danger to Mexico in their petition for extradition- as a kidnapper perhaps. So if you can, take a moment and try to think about why your little brother would leave. That will help me rebut case the US agents are building.”

“I already told you I don’t know. And I don’t need your help.” Sean stood, trying to fight the panicked feeling inside him as he brushed off Fer’s hand. They weren’t going to trick him into giving up the secret. “I am going to turn myself in. Just tell me what way is the police station? You can’t keep me here against my will.” 

“But companero—”

“No Fer.” Luz held up her hand. “You are right Sean, and I will drive you there myself if that’s what you want.”

Sean blinked in shock. “Th-"

“If you first explain to me how that will help you and Daniel.”

“I just told you,” Sean said. “I’ll take blame for what happened and they’ll let Daniel go.”

“But they are already planning to release him.”

“Huh? How do you know?”

“We have a friend, a US lawyer,” Luz said. “She has confirmed Daniel cannot be charged as an adult. They _aren’t_ charging him now. They still want you. Yes, he is being held in protective custody and they are just asking him questions. But it is only temporary.”

“But...” Sean shook his head. “I can’t let him think I’m dead. I have to turn myself in so he knows I am okay.”

Luz shook her head again. “Why would they tell him anything about your whereabouts if they are questioning him? They will keep him in the dark and give him as little information as possible in hopes he spills the plans you two made for what you would do in Mexico. Even if they put him in a foster home before they award custody to a family member, the foster parents will not be permitted to discuss anything about you.”

Sean opened his mouth to disagree, but then he thought about Agent Flores, and how she only gave him vague promises that they had leads on Daniel. Just kept stringing him along, to get him to talk. Maybe it was possible Daniel still thought he’d made it safely to Puerto Lobos.

“But I still feel everything is so wrong. I can’t live my life without Daniel not being a part of it.”

“So how will turning yourself in fix it? Will the cops let you go free with Daniel?”

“Of course not, they want me for murder—” 

Luz smiled sadly when Sean stopped short.

“You see, son? That won’t help you to see him. It won’t help your brother, either. If you had talked to the cops right away—right after your dad was shot, and you had a lawyer like our friend from the US with you—maybe that would have been the right thing to do. But since you ran, and they have other charges on you now, it is much, much easier for them to build a case and convince a jury you are guilty of whatever crimes they bring against you.”

“Oh.” Sean slumped back into his chair. What Luz said made too much sense. But it also made him feel even worse. Stupid _and_ helpless. He wiped his wet cheeks with his shirt sleeve. “I don’t know what I am supposed to do then. I am here alone and I fucked up so bad and I miss my brother so much.”

“Stay here, and we will try to help you. Maybe you can see your brother again without it being in visitor hours at the prison. But we have to take it one day at a time. If you want my help, first, you have to agree to be safe for now.”

“You mean, hide from everyone? No, way. I can’t keep pretending to be dead. There are other people who will worry about me.” 

“I understand.” Luz glanced at Fer, who was smiling sadly at him. “That’s what our network can help you with. We can figure out how to safely tell your loved ones. But I have a lot of research to do. Fer, you too. Take his friend’s information down when you have time.”

“Oh, see that? She’s a slave driver.” Fer pretended to grimace like he was being actually hit by her glare. “Soon, she’ll put you to work too. Better stay in bed.”

“Fer.” Luz swatted him on the hand. “Don’t use that kind of language here. The only thing I want you to do right now is rest, Sean. But if we can get you legal status, then you might have employment opportunities when you are ready, through the center where I work. But, be in the know—it will not be high wages. This town is a tale of the rich and the poor. And most jobs are meager paying. Staying with us, you could still save some money for when you get your own place. And my sister will want to meet you. But right now, I have to get to work.” 

Luz’ cell buzzed as if on cue. She got up but paused at the sliding glass door, taking a deep breath. 

“I know you feel alone right now, but you can build a life here. Just like refugees who come to the border hoping to get into the US and are denied. We have helped some stay in Mexico, in our town which is not perfect, but there are less threats compared to where they came from. If they can make a life here, then it’s possible for you too. You’ll see. But at some point, soon, I will need you to tell me the whole truth. Okay?”

Sean looked down at his omelet. How could he explain Daniel’s powers without sounding crazy? How could he share it with strangers? He hadn’t even been comfortable letting everyone in Away know, but Karen had convinced him when he was having a weak moment- the night after Haven Point. When he was just grateful for Karen’s help in getting Daniel back.

_These are good people, Sean. They just want to help you and Daniel. Like they helped me when I first arrived._

A chicken fluttered into the bright hen house, looking snug and safe under the green roof the brothers had built. Brothers whose death had brought him here. Whose death was the reason these people wanted to help him.

Maybe they were all connected and he was here for a reason. Maybe these people could help him bridge the yawning rift—so much wider than canyon in Arizona—that now separated him from Daniel.

Luz’s phone buzzed again, but she kept looking at him, waiting for his answer.

“I’ll...I’ll try.”


	8. Real American Hero

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story mostly takes part during and after Episode 5, and sticks closely to canon. It is the sequel to _Never Stop Shining_ , and is part 2 of the _Never Stop Series_. Although it can be read as a standalone story, I recommend reading Never Stop Shining first to fully appreciate this one.
> 
> This story evolved out of my need to know how Sean and Daniel dealt with the events that occur throughout the game, and ultimately find happiness and fulfillment in their lives. I am deeply indebted to my beta readers for improving this story: darkjaden825698 and Khoris!
> 
> **The sequel to _Never Stop Fighting_ , part 3 of the _Never Stop Series_ is coming November 2020!**

**July 7th, 2017**  
**Puerto Peñasco, México**

After Luz went off to work, Fer let Sean be for most of the day.

He only came to check a few times if he needed any water or pain meds. He also brought him his backpack. Sean pulled out his sketchbook, wishing he could draw the little chickens fluttering in the courtyard to distract himself from the loneliness in his heart.

He didn’t like the sound of protective custody, but knowing his little brother was at least not worried he was missing was a huge relief. He just wished he could talk to Daniel. Hear his voice, wrap his arms around him and tell him how sorry he was. 

What Luz said sounded great, but also so abstract. He still wasn’t sure he could tell her the whole truth. Could Luz really clear his name? What if this was a waste of time? Maybe if he turned himself in they would give him a reduced sentence.

But the logical part of his brain didn’t believe that.

Agent Flores would throw the book at him for escaping her twice. But, at this point, being in jail felt almost better than leaving his whole family and hiding somewhere. At least in prison, Daniel could visit him—if he even wanted to. 

And that was what hurt the most right now. 

How could he start a new life here when everyone he loved was back in the US and some didn’t even know if he was alive? Even if Luz could get a message to them, that would be days if not weeks from today. 

Almost as badly as seeing Daniel, Sean wanted to call up Finn. Finn would tell Sean what to do. His voice was always so calming and he had a way of reasoning that made Sean feel convinced and steady. He wished Finn’s parole was already over. If he had to be here without Daniel, having Finn would make it almost bearable.

And he had Finn to thank for being here. So crazy he could have died in a ditch, or be carried to another hospital and trapped there. They definitely would have had more guards than the one in California.

And then there was Lyla. _Fuck._ He couldn’t think about her without remembering those messed up dreams. 

He needed Daniel and his friends. He had never imagined a scenario where he would make it to Mexico alone. He barely made it six weeks without seeing him after they got separated in Humboldt. 

How the fuck could he live in Mexico without him? It was like a nightmare to the degree that he almost wished the dreams he kept having were the real thing.

Fer burst into his room, interrupting Sean’s tortured thoughts. 

“You’ll want to see this.” Fer hurried to turn on the TV. “They’re talking about your case.” 

He flipped the channel to what looked like a talk show, with a nicely dressed woman sitting in front of a large screen, with the title _Perspectivas_ written over it. The woman was addressing the camera in Spanish.

“After two days of being held in a detention center, the younger brother has been turned over to protective services, and is expected to be placed with a foster family as his surviving parent is currently incarcerated in an Arizona jail for charges on conspiracy to commit arson. We learned just this morning that Daniel’s grandparents are filing for full custody of him. Their lawyer has released this statement.”

The show host translated the message broadcast in English on the screen:

_Stephen and Claire Reynolds were deeply saddened to learn about the events on Tuesday and hope and pray for the safe return of their grandson, Sean Diaz. In the meantime, they are committed to providing excellent care for Daniel Diaz, who rightly belongs with his grandparents in a nurturing environment where he can find the support and structure he needs with family who love him._

“But it remains to be seen if that custody will be granted. Those are the latest updates in the case.”

A pit formed in Sean’s stomach at hearing them talk about Daniel being in foster care. And the idea of him living with Claire and Stephen. They were nice people, but not the ones who should be raising him. 

That was Sean’s job! 

But, Daniel had been so happy that week in Beaver Creek. If Daniel returned to their grandparents, he’d have Chris to play with again. They’d spend hours in their imaginary world fighting bad guys until Claire called them in for Dinner. Stephen would teach him how to build model trains, and they would all decorate the Christmas tree together during the holidays. It would be a _normal_ home, which was what Sean couldn’t give him in Puerto Lobos.

_And I’ll miss out on seeing Daniel grow up, too._

“Now we turn to two experts who have been closely following the case. First, is psychologist and criminologist Tracey Moore, whose book _Broken Families: The Real Reason Behind Today’s Violent Youth_ was on the New York Times bestseller list. Dr. Moore was unable to join us live due to a conflicting court appearance, but we will play an excerpt of our interview with him from earlier this morning.”

An old man with a frowning expression appeared on the screen. The host asked him questions in English, with Spanish captions scrolling below.

“In your role as an expert witness, you have testified many times about the problems that America’s young men face. One of your main arguments is that many lack family support in today’s modern society, which leads those young men towards acting out in violent ways. And you have made that argument in your latest editorial published in the Seattle Times regarding the Diaz case. But, Dr. Moore, the Seattle PD do concede that Officer Matthews shot and killed Esteban Diaz—Sean’s father. Is it really fair then, to place the blame for the officer’s death on Sean’s alleged violent tendencies?” 

_Violent tendencies? Who the fuck is this guy?_

“That is true Sonya.” Dr. Moore cleared his throat, taking a sip of water. “Officer Matthew fired the first shot. But, he did so only in self defense.”

“Fucking liar!” Sean shouted at the screen. “Turn this shit off, I don’t want to listen to this asshole.”

Fer stared at him with a confused expression, and Sean realized he’d spoken in English. He repeated himself again, but Fer put a hand up.

“Wait! This isn’t the only person talking. They will have a _cabron_ lawyer on after this _capitalista_ sellout. She is an immigrant’s right advocate. You’ll see.”

Sean grunted, but eased back down on the bed. Dr. Moore continued talking, elaborating on his theory, which Sean could only half listen to because it was so outrageous. Apparently, Dr. Moore had been writing to newspapers saying that Esteban probably had a violent history that no one knew about because most of it happened in Mexico. Karen had left him for domestic abuse, and Sean had learned that violence watching his father beat his mom. So, Sean had emulated his father by threatening his neighbor Brett. 

Then, according to his theory, when the office came to break up the argument between them, Esteban had rushed out brandishing a gun. Officer Matthews shot him in self defense, and then Sean had picked up his gun and killed the officer. 

“And then, Sonya, the youth realized he was in over his head and that he had picked on the wrong guy for once. That was when he decided to abduct his little brother against his will, and went on the crime spree we know about today.” 

“That’s an interesting assertion,” Sonya said. “But, there is no evidence that there was a second gunshot fired. The autopsy revealed that Officer Matthews was killed by some type of impact trauma from falling or being thrown, did it not?”

“The police have not released the full details, but I’m confident the truth will come out. If Sean was an innocent victim, like some claim, then why did he run? And furthermore, why did he participate in organized crime and then turn on his boss and beat him up and rob him in California? Why did he steal a car, and solicit the aid of his mother to kidnap Daniel from the charitable Christian organization that took in that poor orphan? Why did he burn down a church with people inside? And, the biggest question we should all keep in our minds about the Diaz case, is why did his little brother flee from him at the Mexican border, giving himself up to the authorities?”

“I don’t know. I assume you have a theory about that as well, Doctor?”

Dr. Moore raised his finger excitedly at the screen.

“Because Daniel was scared to death of his brother, who had been beating him and intimidating him the same way his father had to his mother and to Sean. This is the cycle of violence that is all too common in single parent families, and in hispanic culture in general. It’s the result of _machismo_ , an aggressive and controlling nature that Sean inherited from his father. It’s a psychological orientation that often manifests in violence towards others, especially towards members of their own family who they see as inferior to themselves.”

Dr. Moore cleared his throat, holding up a news clipping with a title in bold that read _Minor wanted for questioning surrenders at Border._

“So, after suffering for months and being forced to commit crimes with his brother, Daniel saw an opportunity when they arrived at the border. He saw an opportunity to _escape_ from that violence and that life of crime his brother was coercing him to participate in. That is why he jumped. I believe it was Sean’s plan all along to fake their death and join—”

“You fucking liar! That’s not true. Daniel wasn’t afraid of me!” Sean threw his coffee cup at the TV, striking the side and shattering onto the tiled floor. “I would never hurt Daniel. Never!”

“Easy, easy.” Fer was at his side, placing a hand on his back. Sean didn’t know why, but he buried his face into the old man’s shoulder, feeling so furious and upset that someone would believe that. 

“Please, turn it off. Please.” Sean said.

“Okay. Maybe this was a mistake.” 

Fer reached for the remote. But then the screen changed and Sean’s breath caught in his throat. 

“Wait! Hold on, I know her!” 

Sean couldn’t believe his eyes. There, on the screen and sitting beside a slightly older woman was his best friend. They were both dressed in the same shirt he’d seen in one of her pictures— _Familias Unidas Contra Violencia Estatal_. 

Lyla looked older than last time Sean had seen her, with her hair longer and slightly disheveled. She had a paper in her hands, which she kept glancing down at.

Sonya greeted them both in Spanish.

“Thank you for making time to speak with us today, Ms. Sanchez Obrador. You are one of the founders of Families United Against State Violence and your group has led several protests and has an active lawsuit against the US Department of Justice for what you claim are violations in the Diaz case. Ms. Sanchez Obrador, why do you feel that the Diaz case is an example of what you call ‘systemic and targeted state violence towards minority men?’”

“Call me Maricel. And first of all, let me now introduce you to Lyla Park, who was a close friend of Sean’s and will give a testimonial of his character.” She smiled over at Lyla, squeezing her hand.

Lyla nodded brusquely, and Sean noticed the heavy bags on her eyes, like she had recently been crying. 

“Now, to the allegations both the state and Mr. Moore have levied against Sean—I only say that it is an absurd and unconscionable effort to deflect from the true facts of this tragedy.”

“Which are?” Sonya raised an eyebrow. 

“That Sean and his little brother were victims of an inexperienced, poorly trained officer who interrupted an argument between minors and then proceeded to shoot their unarmed father who was trying to deescalate the situation. Officer Matthews used excessive force by shooting an unarmed father in front of his two children without attempting any of the less lethal methods he had at his disposal to resolve the situation in a peaceful manner. His shot resulted in some type of explosion that cost him his own life and seriously injured Brett. The only ones responsible for this incident is the Seattle PD, who have shown time and again, a pervasive use of excessive force towards black and brown citizens in our community.”

“If that is so, Ms. Maricel, then how do you explain Sean leaving the crime scene, and the subsequent allegations against him—armed robbery, grand theft auto, arson, property damage of various governmental and private buildings…?”

“In each of those cases,” Maricel directed her eyes towards the camera like she was speaking directly to the audience. “If you review the evidence, you will find those allegations to either be unsubstantiated or to be the direct result of aggressive and unconstitutional tactics used by our criminal justice system against a 16 year old boy.”

“How so?”

“Take the escape from the police station in Arizona. We have evidence to believe that Sean and his brother were interrogated without the presence of their parent or a lawyer and were likely threatened with consequences if they did not comply. Additionally, there is evidence that the capture of Sean and Daniel was done illegally, through the use of bounty hunters who were paid to violently capture migrants. A staff member in the infirmary, who agreed to speak with us on condition of anonymity, told us that the younger brother was being treated with a gunshot wound to his shoulder. The border agents used these bounty hunters who attacked an unarmed ten year old and Dr. Moore wants to talk about latino boys being too violent? He should focus on the violence in the very system that pays him to testify as a legal expert. Because it is that system that is perpetuating a cycle of violence in today’s country against young men whose only crime is to be Latino or Chicano or Black. That is why Familias Unidas has made the following list of demands in this case.”

Maricel paused, and the screen split to show a bulleted list as Maricel read off each item.

_The US and Mexican government, whether the FBI, the US Marshals, the Mexican migra or whoever has jurisdiction, immediately:_

_A) disclose whether they have Sean Diaz in custody and provide the location of the facility he is being kept in and provide unconditional access to impartial council, which our organization will provide pro bono  
B) release the footage on the police car’s camera on the date of Esteban Diaz and Officer Matthews’ death  
C) remove from the case Agent Flores, who illegally questioned him in captivity in Redding Mercy Hospital  
D) release the names and all payments given to the illegal bounty hunters and the officers behind this operation  
E) if Sean’s remains have been found, release them immediately to the custody of his family so a full autopsy can be performed as part of a comprehensive investigation to determine the possible role of US or Mexican police or paramilitary in his death  
_

__

As soon as Maricel read the last bullet point, the camera switched back to Sonya.

__

“We will want to note that neither Perspectivas nor Univision condone or condemn the statements made by Dr. Moore or Ms. Sanchez Obrador.” Sonya turned to Lyla, switching to English. “We only have a few minutes left, but I know you had some words prepared for your friend that our audience may be interested in hearing. A personal perspective on Sean.”

__

Sean could tell Lyla was having trouble keeping steady. He wanted so much to be there, hugging her, and telling her that he was okay. He couldn’t believe she was actually on TV, and participating in this show about him and Daniel. She was doing so much for him— too much, especially when he hadn’t been there for her.

__

Maricel squeezed Lyla’s hand. “It’s okay if you don’t—”

__

“No,” Lyla looked up at the camera, “No, I am okay. I want the world to know the real Sean. Sean is my best friend, and is an amazing son and brother. When we met in seventh grade, he demonstrated how good of a person he is. We had drama class together, and I was cast as Emily in _Our Town_ —the lead role. During rehearsals, a few of the girls kept interrupting my lines, making jokes and whispering how there were no Asians in America in 1901 and that I had been only given the part due to PC culture. I remember one comment that really hurt me—that they should have cast someone who looked like a ‘real American’ for the part.”

__

Lyla smiled, her eyes gazing out past the camera like she was looking back into the past.

__

“This quiet boy, who spent most of his time doodling in the back of the class interrupted them, telling them to shut up so he could listen to the _real_ actor give her lines. I didn’t even know Sean’s name at the time. But the next day, when I walked into drama class and saw a sketch taped on the theater entrance door of a girl who looked like me with her hands on her hips and wearing a cape with the words ‘real American hero’ written above it, I knew he’d drawn it.

__

“When the bell rang, I caught up with him and asked about the sketch. He says he admired my courage to keep going when the popular girls were trying to silence me. I laughed and said I wasn’t anything close to a hero. I wasn’t perfect. He just nodded and pointed out a mistake I’d made on my lines, saying heroes aren’t perfect. They are just regular people who have the courage not to give up. Sean was the kind of person who made others feel included. He knew how to make me laugh when I was stressed. Who was there for me when no else was, and from that first day on, he’s always been my best friend.

__

“And Sean is a hero to me and to his little brother, who he took care of when he was still a kid himself. Even when his Dad was killed in front of him, he was brave enough to travel across the country to protect his little brother and save him from the everyday danger Mexican-American boys face.” 

__

“Thank you Ms. Park. I am sorry for what you must be going through these past days not knowing if Sean is alive. Now—”

__

“I _know_ Sean is alive. I know it in my heart. And I have something else I need to say.” 

__

Lyla’s voice was like steel cutting through Sonya’s platitudes. Sonya looked confused, but nodded and the camera zoomed in on Lyla. Sean felt like she was looking right at him.

__

“I know Sean is out there somewhere, alone and maybe in danger. Sean, if somehow you can hear this, remember we will always be best friends. I will never give up on you. And you didn’t ghost me either. You did what you had to do to survive, and to protect you and Daniel. You called me twice, and you made an effort to reach me when I was at my darkest point. _More_ than once.”

__

Lyla wiped tears from her eyes, but her voice was unwavering. Sean clutched the bed sheets in his sweaty hands, overcome with shock. He couldn’t believe this was happening. That Lyla was right there, talking to him like they had on the phone.

__

“And I know you are worried about Daniel and about us. But, don’t be. We will take care of ourselves. I promise to be there for Daniel, and one day, you will be too. We are fighting for you Sean. Everyday we are fighting to clear your name. And I need you to keep fighting too. Freaking fighters forever, remember?”

__

Lyla’s voice rose several octaves.

__

“Don’t turn yourself in for a crime you didn’t commit. What lesson would that teach Daniel, to go to jail for years of your life when you are innocent? What would that teach Daniel about right and wrong? That’s not what Esteban would have wanted. So, show Daniel you are the hero I met that day in middle school by never giving up. We will find a way to bring you home a free man. But, you need to stay strong for me. Because, I’ll never stop fighting for you, Sean. Never!”

__

Lyla started to cry and Maricel squeezed her shoulder. The show switched to a commercial break. Sean sat there, still staring at the screen. 

__

Lyla’s voice wrapped around him like armor. It felt like the distance between them vanished—like they were together just like the dream. Fuck—had they somehow communicated in his sleep? Like traveling through a dream?

__

No way! 

__

But Sean couldn’t deny how much what she said sounded like the answer to his fears. Either way, she was doing everything she could possibly do for him. He still had his best friend. There was absolutely nothing that would keep them apart. 

__

The show came back on with some closing words but Sean wasn’t there. His mind was still with Lyla. She knew he was alive and they would see each other again. The rift between them wasn’t so daunting anymore. If Lyla was right, then one day soon, maybe the nightmare would be over and he could get Daniel back. 

__

He knew he fucked up everything by driving through the border. But, he didn’t feel like turning back anymore. With help from his friends, he could find a way forward. 

__

He owned it to his best friend to try. 

__

“What did your friend say?” Fer asked, looking confused because the Spanish captioning had cut off.

__

Sean shook his head. He couldn’t begin to translate all of that.

__

“Just that…” Sean smiled through his tears. ‘She’s still my fucking hero.”

__


End file.
